2020

Dear Friends of Malaysia,

The Malaysian government has listed 18 countries that have now been deemed Omicron high-risk, including the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Norway, France, Denmark, India, Canada, and Nigeria.

However, the previous temporary ban for travellers from the eight high-risk African countries has been lifted. The eight countries were South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Malawi.

The Health Ministry has strongly advised Malaysians to avoid unnecessary travel to high-risk countries. Travellers arriving from these countries must be fitted with digital tracking devices throughout their quarantine periods.

Meanwhile, Malaysia and Singapore have recently agreed to suspend the sale of new flight and bus tickets for air and land Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) from 23 December 2021 until 20 January 2022 after Singapore identified a COVID-19 cluster due to Omicron probable local transmissions.

However, eligible travellers who have earlier bought tickets will still be allowed to make their trips under this quarantine-free travel scheme.

As of 30 December 2021, Malaysia has fully inoculated 97.6% of its adult population or 78.4% of its total population, with 90.4% of youth aged between 12 and 17, received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccines.

At the same time, Malaysia recorded 3,997 new cases, and the country’s COVID-19 death toll is 31,462.