KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian Battalion (Malbatt) peacekeeping mission to Lebanon will continue even with the Covid-19 pandemic as it is the country’s commitment to the United Nations (UN), said Senior Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
This means that the Malbatt 850-8 team, which is part of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil), will carry on with its duties.
“The Malaysian armed forces will continue their mission and adhere to the standard operating procedure set by the Lebanese government to stop the spread of Covid-19.
“The government will also provide equipment, including face masks, to our troops there,” he said at a media conference after attending a ceremony here to present Covid-19 protective equipment to the Malbatt 850-88 contingent and armed forces frontliners.
Chief of Defence Force Gen Tan Sri Affendi Buang was also present at the ceremony.
Meanwhile, Ismail Sabri said the implementation of EMCO at Sierra East Condominium near Persiaran Paya Terubong Flat in Relau Penang ended yesterday.
He said the decision to lift the EMCO at the condominium earlier was based on the advice and risk evaluation of MOH after no positive Covid-19 cases were detected when all occupants had been screened.
“MOH also found the majority of the condominium residents were not linked to the cluster reported,” he said.
The government had enforced EMCO at Persiaran Paya Terubong Flat from Dec 7 and it was extended to Dec 31.
On the enforcement of standard operating procedure (SOP) compliance, he said 230 individuals were detained on Tuesday for infringing the SOP and they were all issued compounds.
Among the SOP offences were failing to provide equipment to record customer (76), entertain centre activities (71), not wearing face mask (41), failure to observe physical distancing (37) and others (five), he said.
He said in Op Benteng, 33 illegal immigrants were detained Tuesday while five vehicles were seized.
On mandatory quarantine since July 24 to Tuesday, 90,536 individuals had returned via international checkpoints and were placed at 77 hotels and 16 other premises including public training institutes and private education institutes nationwide.
“From the total, 7,574 individuals are undergoing mandatory quarantine while 535 individuals were sent to hospitals for treatment and 82,427 individuals were allowed to return home,” he said. — Bernama
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