KUANTAN, Sept 26 -- Staff of agencies under the Communications and Multimedia Ministry (KKMM) who are on duty in Sabah for the state election will be required to undergo screening for COVID-19 upon their return to the peninsula, said its minister, Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah.

He said the directive was issued yesterday as a precaution.

“We have many of our staff at the headquarters, especially those in the field of broadcasting, news and information, sent to Sabah to assist their colleagues there.

"Some of them who returned (to the peninsula) took their own initiative to go for the screening and tested negative for the virus, but there are still many of our staff still there,” he told a media conference after opening a YouTube Training Workshop for the East Coast Zone here today.

The two-day workshop, organised by the Malaysian National Film Development Corporation (Finas), was also attended by its chairman Zakaria Abdul Hamid and chief executive officer Dr Ahmad Idham Ahmad Nadzri.

Saifuddin, who has been to Sabah several times since the pandemic, said he had also been screened for COVID-19 and was found negative with the virus.

In another development, Saifuddin reminded production companies doing shooting or planning to do so in Sabah to take appropriate steps and comply with the prescribed standard operating procedures (SOP) set by the Ministry of Health and the National Security Council (NSC).

“The production companies are in communication with Finas about the SOP and we advise them to postpone their shooting if it involves locations in the red zone area, or if possible, find another location. The important thing is for them to comply with the prescribed SOP,” he added.

Meanwhile, Saifuddin, who is Indera Mahkota Member of Parliament, said the ministry is prepared to assist in the investigation into an allegation of a Chinese company with ties to Beijing’s military and intelligence networks having amassed a vast database of detailed personal information on 1,400 Malaysians.

There are two agencies under the ministry that can do so, namely the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and the CyberSecurity Malaysia, he added. 

-- BERNAMA