PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia has lifted the temporary travel ban against eight countries that were previously enforced after the emergence of the Omicron variant.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said these countries are now classified as high-risk countries.
The eight countries are South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Malawi.
"As the Omicron variant is from many source countries, hence, the temporary travel ban will now be lifted and cases in South African countries were also reportedly declining.
"These countries are now listed as high-risk countries along another 10 countries namely the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Norway, France, Denmark, India, Canada, and Nigeria," he said in a press conference today.
Khairy said travellers from these 18 countries would be fitted with digital tracker upon arriving in Malaysia and throughout their quarantine period.
He added that Health Ministry strongly advised Malaysians to delay their travel to these high-risk countries.
"If possible, avoid unnecessary travel to these 18 countries because it is very risky and dangerous; wait until the situation stabilises."
Meanwhile, he urged those who are ushering the New Year to do a self-test before attending any event.
"Even though it is a private event, like a Christmas celebration, be it to celebrate with friends at hotel or restaurant, please do a self-test if you are meeting someone from different households.
"So far, the Melaka and Sarawak state elections, as well as the Christmas celebration have not caused a surge in cases because a majority of the people complied with the standard operating procedures.
"So, continue to comply with the public health measure, and test before a celebration with people from other household. This is very important to control the spread of the Omicron. Omicron is already here, we want to slow it down," he said.
He said the Institute for Medical Research had conducted PCR genotyping assay on 366 Covid-19 positive samples collected from returnees between Dec 21 to 25.
"Of the total, 306 samples were presumptive Omicron variant and we are now waiting for the whole-genome sequencing results.
"After obtaining the results, we will announce the confirmed Omicron cases and update the list of high-risk countries.
"Currently, we are actively testing the close contacts of Omicron cases on the ground to contain the spread of this new variant."