Travellers from high-risk countries must wear tracker during quarantine

 

COVID-19 | All travellers arriving from countries deemed as high risk of the new Omicron variant will be required to wear a monitoring device, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said today.

The extra precautionary measure followed the Health Ministry's discovery of the first Omicron variant in the country yesterday.

Khairy told a press conference today that the digital tracker device would need to be worn by the travellers throughout their mandatory quarantine period.

"Travellers who arrive at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport from high-risk countries will have a digital tracker device put on them.

"The device is to be worn by the travellers until they complete their mandatory quarantine order," he said.

Khairy also revealed that a 19-year-old female student from South Africa was detected as the first Covid-19 positive case in the country that was infected with the new Omicron variant, which is said to be highly transmissible.

According to MOH, the order applies to all travellers, including Malaysian citizens and long-term immigration pass holders who are returning from countries on its Omicron ban list.

MOH has banned foreigners with a history of travel within 14 days to Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Malawi from entering the country.

On top of the ban list, MOH also has another list for countries that it deems as high risk of the Omicron variant.

Among the countries on the high-risk list include Angola, Bangladesh, Croatia, French Guiana, Georgia, Guernsey, Jordan, Libya, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, The Philippines, Ukraine, and Zambia.

While travellers from these countries are allowed to enter Malaysia, they can only enter through KLIA and are subject to a 14-day mandatory quarantine at a government facility.

The same applies to those who have a history of traveling to high risk countries within 14 days. - Mkini