The police have arrested the caretaker of an old folks home in Malacca after a video showing an elderly woman being assaulted went viral on social media.

"Congratulations to the Crime Investigations Department for detaining a caretaker of the old folks home who was suspected of endangering the residents yesterday," tweeted state police chief Ramli Din.

Meanwhile, the Malacca government has ordered the home in Klebang to be shut down.

According to Berita Harian, state women, family development and welfare committee chairperson Latipah Omar said the home has been given a five-day deadline to cease operations.

The residents of the old folks home would be sent back to their next-of-kin or to other centres if their families are unable to care of them.

Besides the abuse case, Latipah said, the state government had also issued a directive as the premises was not registered.

"There are 73 registered caregiver centres in Malacca, and less than 20 centres have yet to register with the state Welfare Department.

"A preliminary investigation showed that this old folks home was advised to register since 2015, but it has stubbornly not done so," she added, after visiting the home.

In the 11-second video clip, a man is seen scolding an elderly woman and then hitting her several times.

Within four hours of the video being uploaded on Facebook, it received more than 350,000 views and almost 600 shares.