Ismail Sabri: Health Ministry assessing risks, no ban on inter-district and interstate travel as of now

PETALING JAYA: The Health Ministry is still conducting a risk assessment on inter-district and interstate travel, says Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

The Senior Minister said that currently there was no decision to revert to the ban on interstate or inter-district travel.

“As of now, we allow; there are no blocks. The Health Ministry is conducting a risk assessment on this, especially in areas under the conditional movement control order (MCO), ” he said during a press conference on the country's Covid-19 situation on Tuesday (Jan 5).

He was asked if the government would revert to disallowing travel across state and district borders as it had triggered several clusters of the virus.

Ismail Sabri, however, hoped that although people were free to move, they should take steps to protect themselves and their family members.

“For example, they could take a Covid-19 test voluntarily. If not the PCR test, then maybe the RTK antigen. Do it before travelling. If we are scared to infect others, we can test ourselves.

“Do a test three days before travelling, say, from a red zone in Kuala Lumpur to Pahang. At this point, we haven’t made a decision to ban travel or otherwise, ” he said.

Previously, inter-district and interstate travel was not allowed under the conditional MCO including in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, and Putrajaya.

While Kuala Lumpur and Selangor continued to be placed under the conditional MCO, the government decided to allow travel across the states.