KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 26 — The police arrested 81 people yesterday for violating the recovery movement control order (RMCO), said Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

He said of this number, 59 were compounded while 22 were remanded.

"The various offences which led to their arrest included failure to prepare tools to register the entry and exit of customers, and not wearing face masks,” Ismail said in a statement.

Other offences were participating in activities where physical distancing is difficult to maintain, premises operating over the legally mandated hours, as well as the arrest of undocumented immigrants.

Police-led task forces conducted 68,310 inspections yesterday to enforce compliance of the RMCO’s standard operating procedures.

Approximately 4,881 teams involving 16,827 personnel inspected 3,962 supermarkets, 5,269 restaurants together with 1,337 hawkers, 1,671 factories, 3,713 banks and 1,073 government offices.

Also inspected were 1,183 land transportation terminals, 240 water transportation terminals and 114 air transportation terminals.

Meanwhile, Ops Benteng involving the police and several other government agencies to detect and arrest undocumented immigrants conducted 62 roadblocks nationwide yesterday.

Some 28,481 vehicles were inspected to prevent the entry of undocumented immigrants into Malaysia via ‘rat lanes’ (lorong tikus), with four such persons detained for immigration offences.

On Covid-19 public sanitation efforts, the Housing and Local Government Ministry has conducted 9,729 operations since March 30, encompassing 134 zones.

Yesterday saw 13 operations covering three yellow zones and six green zones in five states.

To date, the public sanitation operations have sanitised 12,885 premises, including 2,700 commercial centres, 1,595 housing areas including public housing, 2,561 public areas, 354 supermarkets and 5,675 government buildings.

On the quarantining of Malaysians returning from abroad, from July 24 until yesterday, approximately 17,037 have since returned, and were placed in 65 hotels and five public training institutes in KL, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Penang, Johor, Sarawak, Kelantan, Perak, Kedah, Perlis, Terengganu and Labuan.

Of this number, 7,419 are currently undergoing mandatory quarantine while 56 have been sent to hospitals for treatment. A total of 9,562 people have since been discharged and allowed to return home.