LABUAN, July 22 — Seventeen foreign sailors have been slapped with RM1,000 compound each for violating the recovery movement control order (RMCO) after being found shopping at a hypermarket here on Tuesday (July 21) while still under quarantine.

The violators, who were compounded under Regulation 7(1) of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Regulations 2020, paid their fines today.

Yesterday, photos of the 17 men shopping at a hypermarket while still wearing the Home Surveillance Order (HSO) wristband went viral on WhatsApp, prompting the Labuan Health Department to conduct a probe.

Labuan Health Department director Dr Ismuni Bohari said a report on the defiant act was received minutes after they were spotted buying food items at the hypermarket.

"We immediately conducted an investigation and found them to have violated the HSO by patronising a business and public premise while under quarantine.

"On that day, all of them were undergoing the 12th day of their quarantine at several gazetted hotels on the island and were scheduled to undergo a second Covid-19 test the following day,” he told Bernama today.

Dr Ismuni advised the public, especially those undergoing quarantine, not to remove the HSO wristband and to fully comply with the RMCO as the Covid-19 pandemic was far from over. — Bernama