KUALA LUMPUR, July 28 ― The police conducted 1,776 checks on individuals who are currently undergoing their mandatory home quarantine period due to the Covid-19 pandemic yesterday, Putrajaya said today.

Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri said the police will continue to conduct spot checks to ensure the new SOPs (standard operating procedures) are adhered to.

"The police along with personnel from the Ministry of Health did these checks yesterday on individuals who are undertaking their compulsory home quarantine period at home,” Ismail said in a statement.

"The authorities will continue to conduct these checks in order to make sure that they are all complying with the SOPs in place.”

Since 24 July, the government ruled that all overseas returnees shall be quarantined at the designated quarantine centres throughout the country for 14-days.

All returnees, including Malaysians, will have to bear the cost of the quarantine period and the screening test.

Yesterday, Ismail moved to clarify that Malaysians will only be paying around 44 per cent of the total cost while foreigners will bear the full cost.

Today, he said that since July 24, 1,631 individuals have entered Malaysia and are now placed in one of the nine quarantine centres in eitherKuala Lumpur, Negri Sembilan, Penang or Johor.

"The estimated cost for a quarantined individual for 14-days at one of these quarantine centres is RM4,700.

"For Malaysians, they need only pay a maximum of RM2,100 (44.7 per cent) for the hotel room and three meals a day. The government will pay the remainder RM2,600 (55.3 per cent) which includes the cost for transport from the entry point to the quarantine centres,” said Ismail.

"This also includes the cost of the PPE (personal protective equipment) for the medical, security and secretariat as well as the cost for cleaning and decontamination at these quarantine centres.

The returnees are coming back from countries such as the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam. Brunei, Watar, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, UAE, Japan, Turkey, Iran, Bangladesh, Taiwan, China, USA, Holland and Australia.