KUALA LUMPUR: The authorities may consider lifting the restrictions on inter-district and interstate travel when 70 to 80 per cent of the population has been inoculated against Covid-19.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that for now, the Health Ministry has yet to consider allowing inter-district and interstate travel even though the nationwide vaccination programme has begun.
"We estimate the country to achieve herd immunity within six to nine months.
"During that period, we will be using two approaches namely public safety via observing the standard operating procedures (SOP), as well as the vaccination strategy.
"These two approaches will run in tandem until we achieve herd immunity in which between 70 and 80 per cent of the population have been inoculated," he said.
He was speaking during the Health Ministry's virtual engagement session with the media today.
Dr Noor Hisham said as soon as the country achieves the targeted herd immunity, consideration will be given to allowing the resumption of overseas travel.
"We have already initiated discussions on 'immunity passports', on whether we can cross states, travel abroad and others. However, this requires data from other countries as well.
"However, this is still in the assessment phase as we need a lot more data. Perhaps we can obtain this data within these six to nine months.
"If we (Malaysia) and other nations have achieved herd immunity, maybe we can then consider it (overseas travel)," he said.
On the issue of herd immunity, he said the Health Ministry's assessments and predictions are based on guidelines set out by the World Health Organisation (WHO).