KUALA LUMPUR: Almost 500 people were nabbed yesterday for breaking the standard operating procedures (SOP) in place for stemming the spread of Covid-19.
A total of 493 people were issued with a RM1,000 fine for contravening the SOP, while nine were brought under remand.
The majority of the offenders (133) were caught for attempting to travel interstate or inter-district without permission.
The other offences included failure to adhere to physical distancing (132), failure by business owners to provide registration equipment for customers (117) and not wearing face masks (70).
Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said a total of 15 fines were issued against individuals participating in activities at entertainment centres, 13 premises were found operating beyond stipulated hours, five were caught outside of their homes without valid reasons, two for sports activities, while six were nabbed for other offences.
He said police conducted 70,696 checks nationwide, including on 5,894 restaurants, 4,514 supermarkets, 4,217 banks, 2,697 hawkers, 2,141 markets, 1,673 factories and 733 government officers.
Also inspected were 3,733 places of worship, recreational spots (1,680), 2,044 land transport terminals, 320 water transport terminals and 104 air transport terminals.
Under Op Benteng, 20 undocumented foreigners and 17 land vehicles were seized.
Ismail Sabri said 90 sanitisation operations were carried out throughout the country involving 31 red zones, nine orange zones, seven yellow zones and one green zone.
"A total of 776 individuals who had returned from abroad yesterday were placed under mandatory quarantine."
He also said that 13,998 foreign workers were screened and 52 tested positive for Covid-19.
Based on data from the Human Resources Ministry, 426,923 foreign workers were screened, involving 20,752 employees, with 7,778 testing positive so far.
The Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry (KPDNHEP) conducted special SOP compliance checks at 1,610 premises with 1,607 found to be in compliance with the SOP, while the remaining three were given advice.