PKR president Anwar Ibrahim has urged Putrajaya to address the prohibitive cost of hotel quarantine among those returning to the country after performing the umrah.
In a statement, Anwar said there have been complaints that some pilgrims had to face large hotel bills as home quarantine was not an option.
"This will burden them. The government must resolve this issue soon," he said.
Putrajaya has made it mandatory for umrah pilgrims to undergo quarantine for seven days upon returning from their pilgrimage to Mecca.
This followed the revelation that the vast majority of imported Covid-19 cases last month were attributed to those who had traveled to Saudi Arabia.
Those under quarantine will only be released on the eighth day if there is no quarantine extension and the Covid-19 RT-PCR test result on the fifth day is negative.
Putrajaya has also barred travel for umrah effective Jan 8.
New Covid-19 mandates for overseas travel have been implemented over fears of the spread of the Omicron variant, which is supposed to be more contagious.
Although initial reports have suggested that the Omicron variant is less deadly, a spike in infections can overwhelm hospitals.
Currently, France, Spain, the US, and the UK are all seeing a fresh spike in hospitalisation of Covid-19 patients. - Mkini
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