James Kon
Since June, the Health Enforcement Unit has carried out inspections on 967 business premises nationwide, during which 574 violations were found and compound fines issued.
The common offences include lack of mask use among food handlers, and failure to conduct temperature checks on customers and visitors.
The worrying number of violations was revealed by Minister of Health Dato Seri Setia Dr Haji Mohd Isham bin Haji Jaafar in a press conference held at the Ministry of Health (MoH).
“The Ministry of Health will continue to monitor the situation of the outbreak at the national, as well as regional and global levels, and carry out ongoing risk assessments to consider further mitigation measures,” he said.
“If the outbreak situation becomes alarming yet again, the Ministry of Health will not hesitate to tighten the social distancing measures that need to be taken to control the outbreak.
“The Ministry of Health will notify the public of any changes to this situation, if necessary, from time to time.”
The minister also reminded the public to perform their social responsibilities by maintaining personal hygiene, observing proper cough and sneeze etiquette, using a face mask in crowded public places, and to avoiding public places and social gatherings if feeling unwell.
“The public is required to comply with all regulations and directives related to the reduction of social distancing measures that have been issued and are still in force at the moment, such as the use of the BruHealth application and the scanning of the QR Code when entering and exiting premises, especially in public areas such as shopping malls, retail shops, restaurants, beauty establishments, barber shops and others,” he said.
“Premise owners are required to print and display their QR code at their entrances. The public is urged to take the usage of the BruHealth application seriously, particularly in the scanning the QR Code, as it will be used by the MoH for contact tracing purposes in the event of an outbreak of infection.”
Failing to comply with the issued directives is an offence under the Infectious Diseases Act (Section 204), which is punishable with a compound fine of up to BND5,000. Offenders also face a fine of up to BND10,000 or jail for a period of up to six months, or both, upon conviction.
“The Ministry of Health will not hesitate to take legal action against anyone who does not comply with the directives issued,” said the minister.