Sin Chew Daily

Restrictions have been significantly relaxed since the coronavirus outbreak was somewhat put under control, with the hope Malaysians are disciplined enough to shoulder our common responsibility of keeping the virus at bay.

Unfortunately some irresponsible Malaysian returnees have openly breached their home quarantine orders and SOPs, moving about freely to increase our risk of facing a second wave of new infections.

Earlier in Ipoh, a woman with a pink color tag walked into a restaurant to enjoy her meal. She came under public censure after the picture of her sitting inside the eatery with her quarantine wristband went viral on the social media.

Soon after that, pictures of several other individuals on home quarantine were also photographed moving around town freely, sparking a new round of public outcry.

Very unfortunately, the lady in Ipoh was later confirmed with COVID-19 infection and was admitted into a hospital. As for the other home quarantine violators, they might have unknowingly posed health threats on other people coming into contact with them.

It is imperative that these irresponsible people be given due punishment. The authorities must take stern actions against them.

As the virus is still far from being over and the frontliners are still working very hard to fight the virus, the mindless acts of these people could have opened a new window for the transmission of the virus, making it much tougher for us to tackle it.

This phenomenon shows that indeed many people have very low awareness of the importance of keeping the virus in check. At the current stage, it is hard for the government to feel "assured" to allow returning Malaysians to go on home quarantine without having the urge of walking out of their doors because it has been now proven that many people do not look at this matter seriously.

In view of this, ministry of defense senior minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has announced that beginning Friday, all Malaysian citizens and foreigners returning to the country will be put at government quarantine centers for 14 days.

The government should be commended for discontinuing the home quarantine policy for returnees after discovering that some of them have breached home quarantine SOPs. It needs to implement more effective mandatory quarantine measures in order to stem the spread of the coronavirus to ensure the whole society's safety.

It should be noted that there are many Malaysians still on home quarantine. For example, there were 389 Malaysians returning from Vietnam, Indonesia, Qatar, China and other countries on Tuesday (July 21) who were told to go on strict home quarantine. These people are duty-bound to stay at home and not to expose the rest of the society to infection risks just for their own convenience.

In the meantime, the government must adopt more effective measures to prevent those on home quarantine from walking out of their doors. These people have been instructed to put on wristbands for tracking purposes, but the thing is, these people can still walk around freely and it is difficult for the government to control and monitor their movements.

As if that is not enough, some on home quarantine have been "out of contact". A quarantine wristband was even found discarded at KLIA recently!

These are the loopholes clearly visible to everyone, and it is essential for the government to plug the hole to effectively stop the spread of the virus.