TANGKAK: The government has a responsibility to enforce the law in order to control the spread of Covid-19 in the country, including issuing compounds.
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said among factors that still caused infection was non-compliance of standard operating procedures (SOP).
"We will not be able to handle the matter 100 per cent because it goes back to how the people manage their business. They need to strictly comply with the SOP so that we can avoid Covid-19 infection," said Muhyiddin.
He said a large portion of the government's efforts and machineries at the moment were being used to manage the pandemic.
"I would like to urge all Malaysians to be responsible so that we can resolve this matter together. We have to follow all the directives issued by the government.
"We have to watch the way we interact and socialise, especially in school as it involves crowded places," said Muhyiddin.
He said if this was not carefully controlled and there was no enforcement against those who broke the law, the pandemic would not be contained anytime soon.
"As long as this pandemic is not resolved, the government's focus would be 100 per cent on efforts to manage it," said Muhyiddin.
The prime minister said this in a speech during the presentation of Ramadan contributions for Gambir state constituents at the Simpang Lima Darat Mosque here today.
He also said the government would maintain the border closure despite appeals from certain quarters for the reopening of the country's border.
He said the decision whether to reopen borders was something the government had to carefully consider.
"If we reopen the borders too soon, it can cause problems and if we don't reopen, then it would affect the economy. This is a difficult consideration that I have to make in a National Security Council meeting," said Muhyiddin.
He said the reopening of the country's border would also lead to the entry of new Covid-19 variants that were more dangerous and lethal from countries like India and South Africa.
"That is why the NSC meeting yesterday decided to ban the entry of travellers from India in order to prevent the variant from that country entering our country."
Muhyiddin said interstate travel was still not allowed as data showed that such activities were the cause of the high infection rate.
He also explained that the government's decision to bar travellers from India was not discriminatory in nature.
"This is not about racism or discrimination. This is to ensure the variant that is so aggressive there will not cause infections here.
"So we will not allow them to enter Malaysia's borders whether through air, sea or land," he said.