KUALA LUMPUR: The increase in the number of vehicles on the road earlier this week was only temporary, said Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
The Senior Minister (Security Cluster) said the spike in movement was largely due to Malaysians heading to banks to withdraw the money that they received from the government’s Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Package.
“The assistance from government has rolled out, and many people rushed to withdraw the money.
“But I believe it (the increase in movement) was only temporary, as the situation has calmed down,” he said in his daily press conference today.
Ismail reminded the public who needed to go to their respective financial institutions to practise social distancing, and to adhere to all standard operating procedures of the Movement Control Order (MCO).
He said as of yesterday, the police had reported a 97 per cent adherence to the MCO, and also recorded a drop in arrests of 34 per cent, to 300 from Tuesday.
The police, he added, had conducted 769 roadblocks and checked 433,988 vehicles nationwide.
“From the 300 people who were detained, 252 were remanded and 88 were granted bail.
“Yesterday, 518 individuals were charged in court. And to date, the cumulative number of people who flouted the MCO is 7,205,” he added.