Covid-19: Visitors from China only allowed into Sabah with a negative test

KOTA KINABALU: Visitors coming from China will have to provide a negative Covid-19 pre-departure test result before entering Sabah from next year.

Sabah Covid-19 spokesman Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said effective Jan 1, 2023, individuals from China are required to show a negative Covid-19 test result taken up to 48 hours before entering Sabah.

In a statement on Friday (Dec 30),Masidi said this was due to the anticipated influx of tourists from China after it lifted travel restrictions for its citizens recently.

There are as yet no reports of any resumption of direct flights between Kota Kinabalu and destinations in China post Covid-19.

Malaysia Airlines, however, had restarted its connection between Taiwan's capital Taipei and Kota Kinabalu earlier this month.

Health Minister Dr Zaliha Mustafa earlier on Friday said among the measures taken were to test wastewater from planes arriving from China for Covid-19, and for international arrivals to be screened for fever at international entry points.

Masidi on Friday also said that the Sabah Cabinet would meet next Wednesday to discuss and set the latest Covid-19 policies following the emergence of a new variant wave as well as in anticipation of tourists from China