THE king today took a drive around Kuala Lumpur to check on the implementation of the movement-control order (MCO), which came into effect on Wednesday.

In a video posted to Istana Negara’s Instagram account, Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah and his son, Tengku Hassanal Ibrahim Alam Shah, stopped at a police roadblock.

“I still see many cars on the road. I hope the number of cars is reduced as soon as possible,” said the Agong in the clip recorded by palace officials.

He was driving a four-wheel drive down Duke Highway before stopping at the roadblock.

Under the MCO, people can leave home only to buy essentials, or for emergencies.

Malaysia has seen a spike in Covid-19 cases in the past week, with a total of 900 infections with two deaths as of yesterday.

Most of the cases are from a cluster of 14,500 locals who attended a four-day tabligh programme at Sri Petaling Mosque late last month.

So far, about 10,500 of the 14,500 participants have been tested.

Earlier today, Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced that the army will help police enforce the MCO starting Sunday.

He said the decision was reached at an emergency meeting this morning.

He added that police stopped and checked more than 11,000 vehicles yesterday to ensure compliance with the restriction order. – March 20, 2020.