KUALA LUMPUR, March 1 — The Foreign Ministry and the Transport Ministry are looking at potential foreign countries to be included in the list of Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) from time to time.
Senior Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said so far the VTL scheme had been implemented between Malaysia and Singapore, while with Thailand and Brunei, it would be implemented soon as was announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
"The Foreign Ministry has been tasked with the list of countries that we are exploring for VTL. There are countries that we are looking at (for the VTL scheme). However, I am not in the position to announce it yet," he said at a virtual press conference after the Covid-19 Quartet Ministerial Meeting today.
Last February 26, Ismail Sabri was reported as saying that said the government planned to implement the VTL with Thailand to revive the country’s tourism industry and that Singapore, Indonesia and Brunei had also in principle agreed to the proposed implementation of the VTL.
Meanwhile, Hishammudin, who chaired the meeting today, said the Omicron wave would not cause the government to re-implement the movement restriction on a large scale as many Malaysians had completed the Covid-19 vaccination.
Asked about the percentage of cases involving the Omicron variant in the country, he said based on Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin's report, the majority of the active cases were Omicron.
On a recommendation by the Health Minister for a review of some of the standard operating procedures (SOPs), Hishammuddin said the matter would be taken into account when the government announced the date for the transition to the endemic phase.
Khairy through his official Twitter, stated that the SOP for congregational prayers at mosques and suraus, as well as the operating hours of food premises, need to be reviewed, taking into account the Covid-19 controlled risk assessment.
— Bernama
