BE truthful when registering one’s details at business premises so that you can be contacted if necessary, said Senior Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

He said the guidelines for contact tracing did not require patrons to give their MyKad number but only the name and contact number.
 
“We decided the other day that only the name and contact number are required. This is to ensure that if there are any cases related to Covid-19, contact tracing would be much easier. 

“But some are not giving their real names. They write down their name as Badang, Superman, Batman and many more,” he said in a daily media briefing on the Covid 19 response.

The conditional movement control order requires business operators to take down customers’ contact information.

Ismail said health officials would not be able to contact those who had given false names and contact numbers should the urgent need arise.

“I hope that visitors to restaurants or shopping malls will give their real name and contact number where they are reachable because otherwise, if there is any emergency and if the person is a close contact of a Covid-19 patient  person, we would not be able to reach or get him. 

“So in the end, it is those who fake their details who suffer.”

He said it was regrettable that there were ignorant people who were taking their young children to the shopping malls and public places.

While the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act (Act 342) did not prohibit such actions, he said the matter would be brought to the attorney-general’s attention. 

“If we are to take action against such parents, it must be through the legal channels. So hopefully we will discuss (making such actions illegal) with the attorney-general, Health Ministry and National Security Council.

“If this is agreed upon, then the law can be amended and if one violates the law, then one can be punished under Act 342,” he said. – May 18, 2020.