KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 7 — Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said today that the Prison Department has been told to present new standard operating procedures (SOP), as Covid-19 involving detainees have spiked recently.

"In recent times, the majority of positive Covid-19 cases have been from prisons or detention centres. We are taking the rise in cases in prisons very seriously,” he said in his press briefing.

He said 401 out of the 691 new Covid-19 cases yesterday were recorded from a prison and a detention centre in Kedah and Perak respectively.

An 85-year-old inmate at the Penang Prison died of the coronavirus, the Health Ministry confirmed yesterday.

"Looking at the increases of cases in prisons, the special meeting has agreed to ask the Prison Department to review and present new SOPs to curb the spread of Covid-19 in prisons.

"The new SOPs will include bringing detainees to court to be charged and transferring detainees to other prisons,” Ismail Sabri said in a briefing aired on Facebook from his home here where he is undergoing self-quarantine even after testing negative for Covid-19.