2020

Dear Friends of Malaysia,

With the continued improvement in the Covid-19 situation in Malaysia, the government has agreed to reopen more tourism sub-sectors beginning July 1.

Along with Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE), the government has given the permission for travel fairs, spas, wellness and reflexology centres to resume. This includes operations of businesses that are operated by blind masseurs.

Business owners and operators are reminded to strictly adhere to the standard operating procedure (SOP) including the use of face shields and hand sanitiser, with measures to ensure social distancing and checking of temperature. Customers must also download the MySejahtera application for monitoring purposes.

Shoppers can now look forward to trying on clothes and shoes in malls and retail outlets as the Government has removed the ban on clothes and shoes fitting. Shoppers and business owners however, are reminded to practise good hygiene and cleanliness to ensure safety.

Malaysia has agreed to partially reopen its borders to foreigners who are seeking medical treatment here, which will be done in phases. The early phases identified will admit medical tourists with critical cases and those who require intensive care. These medical tourists must register with the Malaysia Healthcare Travel Council (MHTC) and undergo a Covid-19 screening test three days prior to travelling to Malaysia.

Malaysia’s efforts to advance the reopening of its international borders to neighbouring countries are well underway with the mutual agreement with Singapore to allow certain residents to return for a short -term home leave.

Both countries are in agreement to create two arrangements to facilitate cross-border travels known as known as the Periodic Commuting Arrangement (PCA) and the Reciprocal Green Lane (RGL).

PCA allows both Malaysian and Singaporean residents who hold long-term immigration passes for business and work purposes in the other country to return to their home countries for short-term home leave. On the other hand, the RGL will allow travels for essential business and official purposes between both countries.

The details on RGL and PCA are currently being ironed out by the officials in both nations that have been tasked to set the necessary measures which need to be agreed mutually.

We are happy to note that Malaysia continues to maintain a low record of new Covid-19 cases since the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) and has accorded credentials as one of the 47 “winning countries” in handling the pandemic. As of today, Malaysia has reached a recovery rate of 96.43%.