Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob during a press conference yesterday had announced that Malaysia will fully reopen its borders on the 1st of April 2022 as the country begins to transition to the COVID-19 endemic phase.
He said that with this development, international visitors visiting Malaysia would simply require valid travel papers to enter and depart the country, while Malaysians would be able to freely travel to other countries with comparable open borders.
According to Ismail, international visitors will no longer be required to apply through the MyTravelPass system, but will instead be required to download the MySejahtera contact tracking application.
“Considering the Omicron variant, which is still in our nation and other countries,” he continued, “there are some obligatory precautions for both Malaysians and travellers.”
There is no need for quarantine for persons who have been fully vaccinated. They simply need to have 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 landing in Malaysia.
“For people who have not been fully vaccinated or who are unable to obtain the vaccination due to health concerns, the health minister will clarify further Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) on this tomorrow,” said Ismail Sabri.
For countries that have not fully reopened their borders such as Indonesia and Singapore, Malaysians can still utilise the vaccinated travel lanes that had been agreed between Putrajaya and the relevant countries, the prime minister added.
The PM announced over the weekend that borders will be reopened shortly to let people gather for the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations in May.
Meanwhile, Tourism Minister Nancy Shukri stated that the reopening of the international border will include Malaysia’s land crossings with Singapore (https://theiskandarian.com/motac-ready-for-international-borders-to-open-nancy-shukri).
Both the Johor Causeway and the Second Link at Gelang Patah would reopen at the same time, she added, making it easier for Singaporeans to go to Malaysia.
Malaysia and Singapore currently have land and air VTLs.
