KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has expanded its travel ban on travellers from two more Chinese provinces effective immediately in an effort to contain the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak, says Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
The Deputy Prime Minister said Wisma Putra has informed both authorities in China and Malaysia, to impose the "lockdown" for those from Zhejiang and Jiangsu.
"In line with the decision made on Jan 27, a travel ban will be enforced based on the lockdown imposed by the Chinese government. Travel restrictions imposed for Chinese visitors from Hubei province, including Wuhan city, are now expanded to Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces effective immediately," she told reporters here on Sunday (Feb 9).
Dr Wan Azizah said this during the Chinese New Year programme organised by the Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) and Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association (Macma).
On Jan 27, the government suspended all visa facilities for Chinese tourists from Hubei province and its neighbouring provinces as part of its measures to contain the outbreak.
The Prime Minister Office's in a statement said that it includes all Electronic Travel Registration and Information facilities (Entri) facilities, visa-free entry, visa on arrival, e-visa as well as manual visa applications.
Dr Wan Azizah said that the Immigration Department has been ordered to impose stricter restrictions for all travellers, regardless of their nationalities, who had visited Hubei, Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces within a period of 14 days, by disallowing them from entering Malaysia.
"The Health Ministry, Immigration Department and other agencies at the Sultan Iskandar Complex (BSI), Johor Baru, have also been told to increase monitoring efforts and give necessary advice to travellers from those entry points.
"Since the situation is still under control, it is still not necessary to ban entry from the whole of China except from those three provinces, which are placed under lockdown," she reiterated.
The coronavirus outbreak, which first emerged in December last year in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, has since recorded over 37,000 cases and 813 deaths.
