KUALA LUMPUR, July 15 — Proposed amendments to the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 could mean individuals breaching the Act will be fined up to RM5,000, the Health Ministry said today.
“Under this proposed amendment, the Health director-general or any authorised officer by the director-general, with consent of the Public Prosecutor, can issue the compound for any offences made under the Act,” ministry officials said in a briefing for media today attended by minister Datuk Seri Dzulkefly Ahmad.
Previously, during the Covid-19 pandemic, offenders would be charged a compound of RM1,000.
As for corporate bodies, they could be fined up to RM50,000 under the amendments, the ministry said/
Another proposed amendment, under a new subsection 31(3), will empower the health minister to prescribe any penalty for any regulations made under the Act.
The penalty prescribed for individuals is a fine not exceeding RM8,000 and for corporate bodies not exceeding RM50,000, or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or both.
