No plans to ban cruise ships from docking, says Loke

KUALA LUMPUR: The government has no plans to ban international cruise ships from docking in Malaysia amid the coronavirus outbreak, says Transport Minister Anthony Loke (pic).

At the moment, the temporary travel ban remained only for visitors from the city of Wuhan and the surrounding Hubei province, and would not be extended to cruise liners, said Loke.

The Transport Minister said this at Puspakom Wangsa Maju here on Friday (Feb 7) after he was asked by the media whether the government would follow Taiwan's move in banning international cruise ships from docking at the island.

He gave the assurance that visitors coming to Malaysia would have to go through health screenings at all entry points into the country according to the measures taken by the Health Ministry.

"We have not banned any cruise ship, but we will take measures to ensure that everyone coming here will be checked in terms of their body temperature and health conditions.

"All that will be checked at our shores, airports and ports. All measures have been put in place by the Health Ministry.

"But we have not decided to ban any cruise ships," Loke told reporters.

Besides Hubei, the temporary travel ban will also be extended to visitors from all other provinces placed under lockdown by the Chinese government, said Loke.

He added that the Transport Ministry continued to take advice from the Health Ministry on measures required to curb the threat of the coronavirus outbreak.

The total number of coronavirus positive cases in Malaysia is presently at 14 people, comprising 10 Chinese nationals and four Malaysians.