In a statement today, Ismail said the Central Medicare quarters, factory and construction site in Hilir Perak will be under the total lockdown until March 7.

He said this follows 185 people testing positive for Covid-19 from 1,966 screenings by the health ministry there since Feb 19.

Ismail said the EMCO was announced to facilitate health screenings on 2,808 Malaysian and foreign workers who lived in the locality.

Meanwhile, he said the EMCO affecting the Taiping prison and the Taiping prison staff quarters will end tomorrow as scheduled.

He said the health ministry has carried out 482 screenings, with 142 positive cases reported from the prison cluster.

He added that the health ministry has confirmed a downward trend in new positive cases from the locality.

Speaking on the arrests yesterday, he said 493 were arrested for various offences under the movement control order.

Out of the 493 arrested, 484 were issued compound fines while nine were remanded.

Among the offences were crossing state or district borders without permission (133), flouting physical distancing rules (132), failure to prepare materials to record customers’ details (117), failure to wear face masks (70), activities at entertainment outlets (15), operating premises beyond the allowed opening hours  despite not being allowed to operate (13), leaving homes without a legitimate reason (five), sports activities (two) and others (six).

Aside from that, he said 20 illegal migrants were arrested under Op Benteng. Seventeen vehicles were also seized.

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