Govt may prohibit parents from bringing children to public places

Many parents are said to be bringing their children to public places such as malls and supermarkets.

PUTRAJAYA: Senior Minister for Security Ismail Sabri Yaakob says the government may come up with new rules under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act (Act 342) to prohibit parents from bringing their children out in public under the conditional movement control order (CMCO).

He was responding to reports that many parents were taking advantage of the relaxed restraints under the CMCO by bringing their children to shopping malls and supermarkets.

“For now, there are no laws. But if this continues, we can include a rule in Act 342 to prohibit bringing children to public areas.

“We will discuss it if we see that parents do not care about their children’s safety,” he said at a press conference here today.

On a separate issue, he said he would discuss with the human resources ministry the possibility of making employers provide an identity tag for foreign workers who have been screened for Covid-19.

Responding to a question on the recent requirement for all foreign workers to be tested for the virus, he said at the moment, those who have been screened will be given letters stating their results.

He also said the authorities had identified the rat lanes or illegal routes through which illegal immigrants enter the country.

He said these areas would be guarded by a task force comprising all uniformed authorities.

He also said there had been several arrests of individuals attempting to smuggle migrants into the country.

“We already know where they will be coming from,” he added.

“From the west coast of the peninsula to the east coast of Sabah, for example Lahad Datu and Semporna, and also the land routes in Sarawak.”

Ismail also assured that there is still enough supply of food and essential items, saying the domestic trade and consumer affairs ministry had checked 25 different types of supplies at 1,052 business premises including 839 retailers, 183 wholesalers and 30 manufacturers.

On the period for interstate travel which ended yesterday, he said police had given out 401,253 permits.

He said 109,309 permits were given out through the Gerak Malaysia app while 1,388 permits were given out yesterday for those stranded in Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Terengganu.

A total of 128 roadblocks were set up to monitor these movements.

According to him, CMCO compliance is currently at 95%.

He said the task force in charge of this had conducted 54,739 checks yesterday on 4,792 supermarkets, 8,308 factories, 3,684 restaurants and 2,423 banks.

Checks were also conducted at 785 land transport terminals, 117 water transport terminals and 49 air transport terminals.

The task force also checked 20,928 private vehicles and 1,624 public transport vehicles; 1,788 markets, 2,832 places of worship, 1,168 recreational areas and 335 construction sites.

Eighty-one disinfection operations were carried out at 28 red and yellow zones in nine states yesterday.

Also as of yesterday, 461 more people arrived in the country and were placed under mandatory quarantine at 228 centres nationwide.

A total of 31,591 people have been under quarantine since April 3, with 23,597 discharged. - FMT