Malaysian borders could reopen soon

26th Jan – Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sakri Yaacob plans to consult the Health Ministry on whether to “slightly relax” current health protocols.

According to Datuk Seri Ismail on Tuesday, Jan 25, this is in a bid to stimulate economic recovery and growth, amidst concerns such as a drop in tourism, as the country’s borders have been closed since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020, excluding the establishment of the Vaccinated-Travel-Lane (VTL) with Singapore.

Malaysia’s move comes in response to other nations relaxing their policies for international travel. “We have seen countries relaxing their SOPs (standard operating procedures) for international tourists. Maybe this can be considered for Malaysia,” said Datuk Seri.

“When the booster jab exercise is completed, maybe we can consider relaxing the SOPs a bit”, he added.

“So when more people have received their vaccine booster shots, maybe we can consider relaxing the SOP. If we can reopen our borders, the economy will also improve”.

The hint from the PM offers some respite for the Malaysian economy, as Causeway travel was halved recently due to concerns from the Omicron variant, which led to parallel cuts in the approval of VTL travel, coupled with stricter testing requirements.

“However, all this will depend on views from the Health Ministry”, Datuk Seri emphasised.

Read more:

https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/malaysian-pm-hints-at-border-reopening-soon

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/singapore-malaysia-land-vtl-to-start-from-nov-29-what-you-need-to-know