A total 551 premises have been gazetted as COVID-19 quarantine centres which can accommodate a total of 40,000 individuals at any one time.

Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said to date, 107 stations (quarantine centres) are fully operational.

"There were 90 quarantine centres yesterday, we have added more today to make it 107 stations," he said after chairing a meeting of the Special Ministerial Committee on the Movement Control Order (MCO) here today.

Meanwhile, on disinfection operations, Ismail Sabri said to date, 83 areas in 11 states, including 41 in Johor and 14 in Kuala Lumpur have undergone sanitisation works as parts of the efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

The focus is on red zones identified as high-risk as well as People's Housing Project (PPR) areas, he said.

"Yesterday, disinfection was carried out on 32,268 PPR homes," he said.

The Housing and Local Government Ministry (KPKT), under the coordination of the Fire and Rescue Department, will lead the public sanitisation exercise nationwide.

Meanwhile, Ismail Sabri also reminded members of the media to remain ethical in their coverage of the pandemic to ensure the people do not end up confused over inaccurate information disseminated.

"I hope the media publish verified stories as half-cooked stories or fake news will confuse the people further, and this does not help the government at all in the efforts to overcome the COVID-19 issue," he said.

-- BERNAMA