BUSINESS OWNERS TO PAY FOR FLOUTING S.O.P
Licence revocation apart from arrest as task force seeks to work with local authorities in raids
BUSINESS premises now risk having its licence revoked on top of owners getting arrested or compounded for flouting standard operating procedure (SOP) to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) compliance task force led by the police would be joined by the area’s local authority during checks on premises.
“The Special Ministerial Meeting on the RMCO has decided that every raid carried out by the police must be done with personnel from the local authority.
“This is because police only have the power to arrest and compound violators, but local authorities can cancel premises’ business licence (if they flout the SOP).
“We have asked local authorities to join in the raids and to cancel the business licences of premises that breach the RMCO SOP.”
He said police detained 132 people on Monday for not adhering to the SOP, of which 118 were compounded and 14 remanded.
Offences include participating in large gatherings that made physical distancing difficult, failure to settle mandatory quarantine bills and failure to wear face masks.
On overseas-bound students who could now leave the country without getting the Immigration Department’s approval, Ismail Sabri said students need only present their university identification cards or offer letter before they were allowed to depart.
He said only two people could accompany each student to go abroad and they were subject to the mandatory 14-day quarantine upon return to Malaysia.
For Singapore citizens with Malaysian spouses who are now also allowed to enter Malaysia, he said they must produce their marriage certificate and visa to the Immigration Department.
He said the Special Ministerial Meeting would decide whether there was a need for a new task force to monitor whether people observed the SOP during the
Sabah election to complement the existing police task force.
He said there was no 12-hour curfew enforced in Tawau, nor was there a quarantine order due to the emergence of new Covid-19 cases. He said fake news on the matter that went viral on Monday had caused a panic.
Meanwhile, Health directorgeneral Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the authorities found a new cluster, dubbed the Pulau cluster, in Kunak, Sabah.
He said the cluster’s index case was a local woman, 68, who was found unconscious at her home, rushed to Kunak Hospital and later referred to Tawau Hospital for treatment for heart attack, stroke and liver disease. She tested positive for Covid-19 on Sept 13.
“She is being treated at the Intensive Care Unit and is on a ventilator,” he said, adding that close contact screening and active tracing found eight positive cases among her family members.
“Up to today (yesterday), 128 people in this cluster have been screened, involving 109 locals and 19 foreigners, with nine testing positive, 18 negative and 101 awaiting results.”
He said Malaysia recorded 23 new cases and the Covid-19 infectivity rate, or R-naught, remained above 1.0 at 1.58 up to Sunday.