Malaysia will be reopening its borders for tourists from April 1 onwards. On Tuesday, the Malaysia's Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob made the announcement saying that the decision is a result of the country’s high vaccination rate, low hospital bed usage by Covid-19 patients and declining percentage of serious cases.
The country has reached the endemic stage of Covid-19 and it is now ready to welcome fully vaxxed tourists. With this, Malaysia has joined the list of nations to remove Covid-19 restrictions and restart tourism.
The decision has been taken to boost economy, says Prime Minister
As a matter of fact, the economy of Southeast Asian country is highly relied on tourism. The nation has to close its borders in March 2020 in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic.
In a press conference, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said, “The government has decided to open its borders on April 1, 2022. We believe this decision will boost our economy and help revive our ailing tourism sector", quoted as saying by Times Travel.
He further 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 travelers.”
Points to keep in mind before traveling to Malaysia
- Beginning from April 1, fully vaccinated travelers will be allowed to enter the country without any quarantine requisites.
- Fully vaccinated travelers must carry their negative RT PCR test result which should not be older than 48 hours.
- Travelers should also carry Covid-19 Rapid Test Kit-Antigen (RTK-Ag) test within 24 hours after arrival.
The Prime Minister added that detailed Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) will be shared by the health minister tomorrow for the travelers who are not fully vaccinated, or unable to receive the vaccine due to health reasons.