KUALA LUMPUR: Melaka and Negri Sembilan will move to phase two and three, respectively, under the National Recovery Plan from Saturday.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the decision was made following the Covid-19 management special committee meeting.
He said the government also agreed to reopen the tourism sector in several destinations under the travel bubble programme, with several set conditions.
For this, he said, Langkawi was picked as the pilot project and would reopen to local tourists from Sept 16.
"Other tourism destinations will be allowed to reopen once the respective locality's vaccination rate reaches 80 per cent (of the locality's population)," he said in a statement.
Ismail Sabri, meanwhile, said that the meeting had unanimously agreed that the special committee would be identified as the Pandemic Management Special Committee.
He said the special committee would also involve participation of representatives from opposition parties, as part of collective efforts to engage all stakeholders.
This, he said, was to ensure the national recovery efforts would be carried out as planned and in line with the Malaysian Family spirit.
"Alhamdulillah, today, for the first time in a few months, the infectivity rate (R-naught) nationwide dropped below 1.0 and I am confident that we are on the right track toward national recovery.
"Based on the projection by the Special Committee on Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee (JKJAV), the vaccination rate among the adult population in the country will reach 80 per cent in every state by the end of September."
Ismail Sabri expressed confidence that the full vaccination rate for the population could be achieved by end of October, subsequently providing protection to the Malaysian Family.
He also called on the people to be prepared for the country's transition to endemic phase after October, following the expected completion of the vaccination programme.
He said the Health Ministry would present the relevant new pandemic and endemic strategies, apart from the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).
"I welcome suggestions on efforts taken to adopt behavioural change (for endemic phase) as announced by the ministry on Sept 1.
"Our Malaysian Family must realise that we have to eventually live with Covid-19, like the rest of the world."