KUALA LUMPUR – A total of seven components need to be fulfilled before the country can enter the endemic phase, or reopen safely towards living with Covid-19, said Senior Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.
He said this comprised one set of standard operating procedures with nine guidelines, a heightened alert system, national testing strategy, and the TRIIS (test, report, isolate, inform, seek) system.
It also entails an automated FTTIS (find, test, trace, isolate, support) system, the gradual reopening of national borders, and community empowerment ambassadors.
“However, all this depends on the Covid-19 Pandemic Management Special Committee meeting chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, which will be held this week or next,” he said in a press conference at Parliament here yesterday.
He added that the transition to the endemic phase would be made simultaneously across the country, based on international components, including those set by the World Health Organisation.
Hishammuddin said this was among the matters decided during the Covid-19 Quartet Ministerial Meeting yesterday to ensure that all plans to head towards the endemic stage run smoothly, are understood by all parties, and will not affect efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19 in the country.
He said the transition to the endemic phase was the government’s next step as all the states except Sarawak and Kelantan were already in Phase 4 of the National Recovery Plan.
Apart from that, Hishammuddin said that the government had also carefully and gradually managed the relaxation of rules, reopening the industrial sector, allowing interstate movement, reopening schools and institutes of higher learning, and implementing the tourism bubble.
Meanwhile, he said the gradual reopening of the country’s borders was also one of the important aspects in the transition to the endemic phase.
He said it covered tourism under the Tourism Ministry, entry of foreign workers under the Human Resources Ministry, business travel under the International Trade and Industry Ministry, and the vaccinated travel lanes (VTL) scheme for air travel under the Transport Ministry and Foreign Affairs Ministry.
The VTL scheme for air travel allows individuals who have been fully vaccinated to travel to selected countries without having to undergo quarantine. – Bernama, November 17, 2021
