SOP for Parliament sitting approved - Ismail

The ministerial meeting on the movement control order (MCO) has approved the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for Parliament sitting, taking into account the new normal in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Senior Minister (Security) Ismail Sabri Yaakob said among the SOPs were the use of face masks, providing hand sanitisers and practising one-metre social distancing.

“All those involved including MPs, government officials and media personnel need to register via the MySejahtera app and have their body temperature screened before entering (the building).

“Only MPs and officials are allowed to enter the hall, while media personnel and civil servants are allowed in the Parliament building,” he said in a statement today.

The Dewan Rakyat sitting will be held from for 25 days from July 13 to Aug 27, while the Dewan Negara session is from Sept 2 to 23 (11 days).

Touching on the recovery MCO compliance operations, Ismail Sabri said the police had detained and issued compound fines to three individuals for defying the recovery MCO yesterday.

“A total of 2,749 compliance teams involving 13,471 personnel have monitored 4,211 supermarkets, 6,110 restaurants as well as 2,120 hawkers, 1,091 factories, 3,773 banks and 863 government offices.

"Some 1,243 land transport terminals, 322 water transport terminals and 99 air transport terminals are monitored by the Compliance Operations Task Force," he said, adding that the team conducted 65,283 checks yesterday.

Meanwhile, he said the police also mounted 67 Op Benteng roadblocks nationwide and inspected 44,028 vehicles to curb the entry of undocumented migrants, especially along rat trails, which resulted in five arrests.

"The government will take stern action against anyone who tries to enter the country illegally and the border enforcement agencies will continue to step up border control, especially along rat trails," he said.

Ismail Sabri said a public sanitation operation covering one zone in Melaka involving three members of the Fire and Rescue Department as carried out yesterday.

In another development, 1,146 Malaysians had returned home from Singapore, Indonesia, Japan, China, Qatar, Australia, the Netherlands, India and the United Kingdom yesterday.

“Of the total, 1,144 of them were ordered to undergo mandatory home quarantine while two others were taken to the hospital.

“Police conducted 1,083 SOP home quarantine compliance monitoring and found all of them complying with SOPs,” he said.

He added that 14 construction sites inspected by the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) failed to adhere to SOPs and were cautioned while 10 more were found not to be operating.

Ismail Sabri said the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs found that 1,664 premises were in compliance with the SOPs while 33 others were cautioned for not following them.

- Bernama