KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 — There were tighter checks at roadblocks over a longer duration by police and armed forces personnel on the seventh day of the Movement Control Order (MCO) enforcement.
Checks by Bernama across the country found that there was smooth traffic flow on most major roads, especially in the federal and state capitals while reports on criminal activities were also seen declining.
The measure taken was to ensure that the people abide with the government’s order in an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Checks around Kuala Lumpur saw police roadblocks took about 30 minutes to an hour to clear 500 metres of traffic. This involved main roads towards the city centre like Jalan Kuching, which took a little longer than usual before a vehicle was allowed to continue their journey.
In fact, police have also increased operation in the red zones areas such as Titiwangsa, Kepong and Lembah Pantai in preventing Covid-19 infection as there is still high volume of people movement in the three areas.
Besides deploying its personnel, Chief of Defence Forces Gen Tan Sri Affendi Buang said the Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) would also be using drones to monitor 12 Covid-19 hot spots nationwide.
The increased number of military personnel could also be seen elsewhere in Pahang, where three of its personnel were present at each checkpoint to assist the police to carry out roadblocks compared to just one member of the armed forces previously.
The same thing was also seen in Melaka, when police and ATM increased the number of roadblocks to four compared to three in each district, especially at the state’s entry point.
Meanwhile, Penang and Perlis saw the involvement of People’s Volunteer Corps (RELA) members mobilised to assist in security surveillance during the implementation of MCO.
In Perak, Selangor, Kelantan, Kedah and Johor, the authorities did not allow Neighbourhood Watch (RT) members to conduct patrol during MCO.
In other developments, there were still people who failed to abide by the MCO restriction by giving frivolous reasons to go out in Negeri Sembilan.
Yesterday, Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob told a press conference after the Special Ministers’ Meeting on MCO said as of Monday, the compliance rate had risen to 95 per cent.
The National Security Council (MKN) is expected to hold a meeting before the end of the Movement Control Order on March 31 to determine whether it should be extended.
— Bernama
