KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia will begin phase one of the transition towards the endemic phase of the Covid-19 pandemic starting April 1, allowing businesses to operate beyond 12am, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced today.
In a press conference, he said all restrictions on operating hours have been lifted and that businesses can open according to the conditions set by their respective licenses.
He said this will allow the public to eat out past midnight, while allowing 24-hour convenience stores to open as normal.
However, Ismail stressed that this is still a “transitional” period into entering the endemic phase of the pandemic, as the decision on the latter was up to the World Health Organisation.
Ismail also said the government has decided to reopen its borders starting April 1.
He said this was based on three factors: science and current facts on Covid-19, the need for reopening borders among neighbouring countries, and to reduce the burden of travellers attempting to enter Malaysia.
“Most importantly, Malaysia is an important destination that has now reopened.”
The Bera MP pointed out that although the country was seeing a spike in Covid-19 infections, the number of patients in categories 3, 4, and 5 were low at 0.7%, while the occupancy rate of intensive care unit beds in hospitals was currently at 42%.
Furthermore, as of March 7, 98.7% of the country’s adult population had been fully vaccinated, while 64% have received their booster shot.
Ismail said the operation of businesses past 12am will help those observing the Ramadan fasting month.
However, the use of the MySejahtera contact tracing app will still be compulsory except in open and uncongested places, while the MYSJTrace feature will be made compulsory for closed areas that were filled with visitors.
For prayers in mosques, suraus, and other places of worship involving non-Muslims, Ismail said no physical distancing will be required but it is still conditional to the decisions made by the respective state religious authorities and the National Unity Ministry.
Regarding interstate travel, all individuals are allowed to move about as they wish regardless of their vaccination status.
He also said there will no longer be a 50% venue capacity cap for mass gatherings, but social distancing was important and highly encouraged.
The prime minister added that the reopening of Malaysian borders means that Malaysians would no longer be required to apply for the MyTravelPass as it has been abolished.
Instead, they merely needed to complete a pre-departure form using the “Traveller” function contained in the MySejahtera app.
“For those who have been fully vaccinated, there is no need to undergo any quarantine period and there is only a need to take the Covid-19 RT-PCR test two days before departing and do the RTK-Ag (professional test) within 24 hours after arriving,” he said.
He said that for countries that still had their borders closed, Malaysians planning to travel to those destinations can still opt to use the Vaccinated Travel Lanes (VTLs) set up by the Putrajaya and the countries involved.
The VTL between Singapore and Malaysia has been active since last year and will be expanded to include Thailand, Brunei, and Indonesia soon. – The Vibes, March 8, 2022
