PETALING JAYA: Travellers from several countries are temporarily barred from taking part in the Langkawi international travel bubble programme, following the detection of cases involving the Omicron variant.
The countries are United Kingdom, Portugal, Netherlands, Australia, Canada, South Korea, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Nigeria, Belgium, Japan, Brazil, Norway, Czech Republic, France or Reunion Island, Austria, Spain, Saudi Arabia, Ghana, Ireland, UAE and California in the United States.
The ban also applies to those with a history of having travelled to these countries within 14 days.
These countries are under the First Schedule.
Countries under the Second Schedule, which are countries at high risk of the Omicron variant, but have yet to report any cases are Russia, Georgia, Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Slovakia, North Macedonia, Guernsey, Croatia, French Guiana, the Philippines, Libya, Jordan, Bangladesh, Angola, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Travellers from these Second Schedule countries were also barred from taking part in the Langkawi international travel bubble programme.
In a statement, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said residents of Langkawi, involving both Malaysians and those with long-term visit pass, from these countries and with history of travelling to these countries within 14 days, can only enter via KL International Airport.
"They are also required to undergo 14 days quarantine at the set centres before being allowed to continue with their journey to Langkawi. Direct flights to Langkawi are not allowed," he said.
He said the ministry was also carrying out a risk analysis based on a set of criteria of countries before they were allowed to take part in the Langkawi International Travel bubble.
"Among the criteria are the Covid-19 incidences and the immunisation coverage," it said.
On Thursday (Dec 2), there were 5,806 new Covid-19 cases reported, including 11 imported cases, while the infectivity rate is at 0.95.
Perlis has the highest infectivity rate at 1.09.
