Malaysia to reopen its borders entirely on April 1 and allow visitors vaccinated against COVID-19 to enter without quarantine, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced on Tuesday.
Since March 2020, Malaysia has enforced some of the strictest entrance restrictions in Asia to try to limit coronavirus pandemic, with most foreign nationals barred from entering and returning Malaysians subjected to quarantine. The Southeast Asian nation will commence the transition to the endemic phase of COVID-19 next month, according to Ismail Sabri in a televised address.
The restoration closely follows moves by Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia, which relaxed quarantine for vaccinated travellers with negative COVID-19 testing before and after arrival.
Speaking at a press conference, Malaysia’s Prime Minister—Ismail Sabri Yaakob—said travellers would only need to have valid travel documents to enter and exit the country. He said, “Taking into account the Omicron variant, which is still in our country and other countries, there are some mandatory steps for both Malaysians and travellers.”
Malaysian citizens who have been prohibited from leaving the country for more than a year can return to full international travel, according to Ismail Sabri, who also stated that travel agreements with other countries, including Brunei, Thailand, and Indonesia, were in the works, in addition to the one announced last year with Singapore.
Fully vaccinated travellers will no longer be required to quarantine upon arrival in Malaysia as of April 1. Fully vaccinated passengers need just a COVID-19 Real Time-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test two days before departure and a professional COVID-19 Rapid Test Kit-Antigen (RTK-Ag) test within 24 hours of arrival in Malaysia.
For unvaccinated travellers, the Prime Minister said: “For those who are not fully vaccinated, or unable to receive the vaccine due to health reasons, the health minister will detail further Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) on this tomorrow.”
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