The Malaysian government will impose an entry ban on citizens of countries that have reported more than 150,000 Covid-19 cases from Monday (September 7), as virus cases continue to surge globally.
The ban includes citizens from the US, Brazil, France, the UK, Spain, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
Senior minister (security cluster) Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the Health Ministry will soon announce a list of countries whose citizens will be included in the entry ban.
“However, for emergency cases or bilateral relations, such as if people need to come here for a meeting between countries, we will allow their entry. But this requires permission from the Immigration Department,” New Straits Times quoted him as having said.
On Tuesday, Malaysia announced an entry ban on long-term pass holders from India, Indonesia, and the Philippines from next Monday.
Earlier this week, health director-general, Noor Hisham Abdullah, told a press conference that the infectivity rate of Covid-19 has increased in Malaysia, stressing an urgent need to continue tightening border controls. He also noted that the majority of coronavirus cases reported in Malaysia lately were imported cases, amid a global surge.
The ministry is expecting an exponential surge in Covid-19 cases in the months of November and December, following full winter in the northern hemisphere.
