A few weeks ago, the government announced that the fine for flaunting MCO SOP has been increased to RM10,000 and the new law was implemented on 11 March 2011.

It later said that the compound is "up to" RM10,000, which means that depending on the offence, the fine could be lower; in fact, as low as RM100.

There were some uproars since the implementation as there were cases where the public felt that those summoned were unfairly penalised. This then led to the government announcing that appeals can be made, confusing things further as nobody knew where the appeal could be done. Not to mention the hassle of it all.

When no one came forward to pay up, the government even offered a discount of up to 50 per cent.

After all the confusion and drama (which probably could have been avoided if the government actually think through whatever new things they introduce), Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Takiyuddin Hassan has announced that a detailed guideline on offences and fines will be out soon.

Offences and fines to be categorised

The minister in charge of law and parliament said that the list of COVID-19 standard operating procedure (SOP) offences and the fines for flouting them will be available online soon.

The government has decided that offences under Emergency (Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases) (Amendment) Ordinance 2021 (Act 342) will be under three categories, The Star Online reported.

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Here are the categories:

CATEGORY 1

The first category, also known as the one that can get you fined the most, involve offences that involves the risk of high transmission of virus to a large number of people.

Examples given include:

• RM5,000 fine for private health practitioners who fail to inform the Health Ministry of a COVID-19 positive case
• RM5,000 for refusing to listen to an officer who is given power under Section 11(3) of Act 342
• RM10,000 for entering a pub or nightclub, or an eatery within a pub or nightclub
• RM50,000 fine for a company operating a pub or nightclub if they open for operations

CATEGORY 2:

The second category involves offences that could lead to high risk of transmission of the virus but not widespread impact to the community.

Examples of this includes:

• RM3,000 fine for entering Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) areas without permission
• RM4,000 fine for not listening to authorised personnel regarding EMCO
• RM4,000 fine for individuals and RM20,000 for companies that refuse to listen or to give information concerning prevention of the disease

CATEGORY 3:

The final category is for lighter offences (i.e. ones with only a low risk of transmission of the virus and does not involve high impact on community).

This includes:

• RM1,500 fine for the first offence of not wearing a mask, not registering using MySejahtera and not maintaining physical distancing
• Premise owners operating beyond the hours allowed risk being fined RM10,000

Complete list of offences and fines will be available online soon, but with so much confusion around any new law and SOP that the government introduces, it's probably safest to just stay in as much as possible.