The government may consider deploying security personnel including police in public transport if the trend of consumer compliance with social distancing directives is not met.

Senior Minister (Security Cluster), Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, said the reality is that every individual is responsible for maintaining their own safety by practising social distancing, especially when using public vehicles.

"In addition to self-quarantine, which is supposed to be our discipline as responsible people to take care of our own (and others') well-being, we also need to practise social distancing.

"(For example) if the media seating in front of me here is not separated by at least a metre, then it should be our responsibility to protect ourselves (through voluntary social distancing).

"However, if we find that there are issues in the MRT (Mass Transit) and LRT (Light Rail Transit), I will discuss with the PDRM so that we can deploy the police or the relevant authorities to control the situation (social distancing)," he said at a daily press conference here on Thursday.

Ismail Sabri said this while addressing social media users' complaints about their concerns over the practice of social distancing in the public transport service.