Date chosen but border reopening will depend on three principles, says Hishammuddin

PETALING JAYA: A proposed date to reopen the borders has been agreed upon by the Covid-19 Quartet Ministers' Meeting and will be presented to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet, says Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.

Speaking at an online press conference Tuesday (March 1), the Defence Minister said he would leave it to the Prime Minister to make an official announcement on the matter.

"Any decision made will be done according to three principles: to ease and remove complications for travellers; to make a decision based on scientific data and facts; and lastly, to compare with other countries reopening their borders.

"However, for countries that have yet to reopen their borders, we will continue using the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) method like what we have with Singapore.

"Already VTLs with Thailand and Brunei have been announced and will be implemented soon," he said, adding that talks are also ongoing for VTLs with other countries.

The government, he added, will continue monitoring the possible emergence of future Covid-19 variants and adjust rules accordingly, he added.

On the Omicron variant, Hishammuddin said data reinforced the stance that Omicron was not as serious as previous variants.

"Based on the briefing by the Health Ministry earlier, we have seen a decoupling trend for the time being in ICU admissions and deaths due to Covid-19, which is 80% to 90% less when compared to August last year despite there being more cases now.

"The ministry has said it will use the next two weeks to study trends... any loosening of restrictions in the future will be made accordingly. However, we are only safe when everybody is safe so I urge all to get their booster shots," he said.

He added that so far, the Omicron variant would not lead to large-scale lockdowns.