NILAI: Foreign nationals from Iran, Italy and South Korea are barred from entering Malaysia effective Friday (March 13) to stem the flow of Covid-19 outbreak.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said the directive was issued by the Cabinet at its weekly meeting on Wednesday.
The ban applies to those who came directly from the countries including other foreign nationals.
"We are taking this step to respond to the current situation with 129 positive cases of Covid-19 in the country,” he said after visiting the Higher Education Leadership Academy (Akept) here today.
Malaysians who return from these countries would also be quarantined for 14 days, he said.
Dr Adham said the current ban on travellers from Hubei, Zhejiang and Jiangsu in China and Hokkaido in Japan was still being enforced.
He advised Malaysians who are currently in the affected countries to adhere to quarantine process there.
Currently, he said Malaysians were also advised to postpone their visits the affected countries unless they are urgent matters.
"For Malaysians who are stranded in China, further action will be taken based on recommendations by the Foreign Ministry," he said.
Dr Adham also said a fund managed by the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) would also be set up to provide assistance to those who are unable to work due to Covid-19 infection or those placed under home surveillance.
He said each individual would receive RM100 a day for the 14-day period.
Present at the event were heath director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, Nadma deputy director-general Mohamed Zahari Razali and Seremban district health officer Dr Mohd Noor Khalili Mohd Ali.
At the event, Dr Adham was briefed on the operations and management of persons under investigation (PUI) for COVID-19 infection at AKEPT.
A total of 68 Malaysians and their non-citizen families, including two Malaysian embassy officials (in Beijing) who were quarantined for 14 days beginning Feb 26, were allowed to go home today when they test negative for the virus.