Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim today said that the country will tighten health checks on incoming travellers due to the spike in the number of Covid-19 cases in other countries, and that Malaysia will do it indiscriminately.
Speaking at a press conference held after today's cabinet meeting, the prime minister also stressed that the government will not compromise the people's health and that safety will always be above economy and tourism.
"One of the issues which we deliberated during today's cabinet meeting was about extra measures to be taken to address Covid-19, especially due to the concerns about new variants of the virus.
"The Health Minister has been mandated to explain this further. But I would like to explain here the cabinet today decided unanimously that whatever it is, the people's health would always be our priority.
"The issues of tourism and economic development cannot be above the importance to protect and treat the rakyat against any outbreak, including Covid-19," he said.
According to the latest media reports, several countries including China and the US have been recording spikes in the number of new Covid-19 cases, with health authorities warning about the finding of new variants of the coronavirus.
‘We do not make hasty decisions’
Following this, certain quarters had called on Putrajaya to take strict control measures on incoming travellers, especially those from China.
Anwar said the government would not target travellers from any country specifically, and stringent checks would be conducted on all travellers.
He said Malaysia had recorded a high number of travellers from China last year, many of them tourists, but the government did not see spikes in the number of Covid-19 cases caused by any specific countries.
"Right now, we are not taking a position to discriminate against any country. Because if we look only at the outbreak in China, we also know that the number of Covid-19 deaths in the US is also high.
"So, we are taking action to protect our citizens. So, anyone coming in will be monitored and subjected to the same procedures.
"Checks will be tightened, but we do not discriminate. Because, let's say a traveller comes from Indonesia, but the same person could have gone to China the month before. Such is a complex matter, and we do not make hasty decisions but will take comprehensive action," Anwar told reporters.
On the same subject, the premier also advised the public to take their Covid-19 vaccine booster doses to protect themselves from the coronavirus.
He said the Health Ministry records showed only 49 percent of the people had taken their booster doses so far, and the country now has a surplus of six million vaccine doses. - Mkini
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