KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 25 — Authorities arrested 688 people for violating Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) under the conditional movement control order (CMCO) involving various offences, Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said today.

Failure to observe physical distancing and wearing a face mask remained the top two violations despite the government’s repeated calls for the public to adhere to health protocols amid sharp spikes in daily Covid-19 cases.

From the total, 678 were compounded while the rest were detained.

“Among the violations were failure to practice physical distancing (213), not wearing a face mask (211), failure to provide registration materials (136), making inter-district/state travel (37), and others (91),” Ismail said in a statement.

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The arrests were following 50,000 inspections on business, government and private premises conducted by some 11,000 security personnel.

Security forces also arrested 10 immigrants suspected of not having valid travel documents as part of the daily “Operasi Benteng”, the border tightening exercise that is seen as the trigger behind the new wave of infections.

Ismail had repeatedly said that Covid-19-positive “undocumented migrants” were to be blamed for the pandemic’s so-called third wave.

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The bulk of some five thousand new cases reported since earlier this month are in the detention centres, although rights activists argued that the authorities should have tested all new detainees first before placing them in cramped cells.

Many of these detention facilities are in Sabah, now the pandemic’s new epicentre and placed under a stricter CMCO compared to that of the Klang Valley.

Ismail said yesterday the authorities will extend the order for Sabah until November 9.

It was initially to last until October 26.