KOTA BARU, Jan 24 — Kelantan police have so far issued over 52,000 permits for inter-district and inter-state travel since the movement control order (MCO) was implemented on January 16.

State police chief Datuk Shafien Mamat said the majority of the applicants required the permit as they were either self-employed or daily workers without an employer.

"However, now that we are into the second week, there are fewer applications compared to the first three days of the MCO,” he told reporters after attending the Back to School programme and monitoring the situation at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Pengkalan Chepa (1) near here today.

To ensure the SOPs are adhered to after school hours police patrol car (MPV) and motorcycle patrol (URB) units would be monitoring the students, he said.

"When they are in school, the students do adhere to the rules as they are under the watchful eyes of the school authorities but when school is over we fear they may forget about putting on face mask or physical distancing when with friends.

"With police presence around the schools, they will be reminded on the SOP compliance,” he said adding that police will monitor the situation 10 minutes before and after school hours.

In addition  Shafien said police would seek the assistance of the school liaison officers (PPS) throughout the state on the matter. — Bernama