The two localities are the Prisoner Transit Centre (PTP) involving the Marang Prison Staff Training Centre in Zone 2 and Zone 3 at the Marang Prison and also the Dungun Correctional Centre and staff quarters, both in Terengganu.

The EMCO was announced in view of a drastic rise in positive Covid-19 cases among prisoners, prison staff and families at the two locations.

He said as at Jan 26, the health ministry has conducted 1,262 screenings at the Marang Prison with 98 testing positive.

“However, all positive cases only involved prisoners who were placed at the prisoner transit centre.”

Meanwhile, Ismail said the health ministry conducted 1,102 screenings at the Dungun correctional facility and found 99 positive cases involving 92 detainees, two prison staff and five close contacts.

The EMCO at both localities will last until Feb 10, and is subject to the usual standard operating procedures.

Meanwhile, Ismail said police arrested 506 people yesterday over movement control order-related offences, with 473 given compound fines and 33 remanded.

The offences include premises operating beyond permitted hours/operating despite not permitted to do so (84), flouting physical distancing rules (76), failure to wear face masks (112), failure to provide materials for contact tracing or registration (66), crossing state or district borders without permission (77) and others (91).

A total of 3,048 compliance task force teams were deployed to conduct checks on supermarkets, restaurants, hawker stalls, factories, banks, among others.

“Police also detained 19 illegal immigrants and seized eight vehicles under Op Benteng,” he said, adding that 536 roadblocks were set up for monitoring yesterday.

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