On Tuesday morning, a crowd of people gathered the Kuala Lumpur High Court area to show their support and solidarity towards Datuk Seri Najib Razak who was present for his court hearing.
According to the New Straits Times, it was estimated that about 1,000 people had gathered and failed to practise social distancing or wear masks.
This caused an uproar amongst netizens.
The untimely gathering amidst the COVID-19 pandemic also drew the attention of Health Director-General Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
Noor Hisham said that he was “sad to see that there is no self-control in this situation” despite the Ministry of Health’s constant reminder to adhere to the standard operating procedure (SOP) during the pandemic.
Sudah terang lagi bersuluh setiap hari Kementerian Kesihatan mengingatkan rakyat Malaysia untuk patuh kepada SOP untuk penjarakan selamat sekurang-kurangnya 1 meter, memakai pelitup separuh muka dan kerap cuci tangan. Sedih bila melihat keadaan begini tiada kawalan kendiri.
— Noor Hisham Abdullah (@DGHisham) July 28, 2020
New court cluster?
Noor Hisham was responding to Bernama’s report over fears of a new cluster at the court raised by Ledang MP Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh during the parliament session.
Malaysians who echoed the same sentiments as the Health DG also suggested to him that the authorities take action toward those who were present and also force them to undergo a 14-day quarantine.
On Monday, the Ministry of Health reported that 1,742 people who are currently undergoing House Surveillance Order (HSO) or home quarantine have failed to come forward to retake their COVID-19 test on the 13th day of quarantine.
The MOH and police will be taking action against those who are trying to skip the second test.
Seramai 1,742 individu masih tidak tampil untuk buat saringan semula pada hari ke-13 seperti yang disyorkan KKM dan tindakan akan diambil oleh KKM dan PDRM. - @DGHisham@KKMPutrajaya
— ??Astro AWANI?? (@501Awani) July 27, 2020
#KitaBelumMenang #DisiplinMalaysia #HapusCOVID19 pic.twitter.com/jHjxqhnlwA
“We have given their names and addresses to PDRM and they will be taking further action,” Dr Hisham said during the COVID-19 press conference.