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MALAYSIAN Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the implementation of an air travel route or corridor for people who had been vaccinated (Vaccinated Travel Lane /VTL) between Malaysia and Indonesia was still in the discussion stage.
“VTL with Indonesia, Thailand and Brunei are still in discussion by considering the new variant of Covid-19,” he said at the COVID-19 Officer Appreciation Council of the State Health Institute in Kuala Lumpur, Monday (11/29).
On November 10, 2021, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri and President Jokowi agreed that Malaysia and Indonesia could implement an inter-country travel corridor through VTL or TCA (Travel Corridor Arrangement). Starting Monday (11/29) Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) began accepting passenger arrivals from Singapore through the VTL by Air program.
Khairy said the travel bubble and quarantine rules for travelers returning from countries categorized as risky would be discussed with the Director General of Health.
“There are several options that will be considered so that we can tighten our border area again,” he stated.
Regarding the emergence of Omicron, Khairy said the COVID-19 test using RTK-Antigen and RT-PCR was useful for detecting the new variant.
“The RT-PCR test should be good, but in terms of the effectiveness of the antigen we are still studying it, but so far it can still detect this Omicron variant,” he remarked.
This opinion, he said, was conveyed by experts from the Medical Research Institute (IMR) but studies to find out more about the variant are still ongoing.
Khairy explained that the study was also to examine the effectiveness of the vaccine and his party would get a report from the manufacturer whether their vaccine was still effective against this variant.
“We saw the dangers of this Omicron and we had initial reports in South Africa as well as a low-vaccination country, but this Omicron causes only modest symptoms. There is some good news, but we will have to wait and see,” he added.
Khairy insists it is too early to enforce restrictions following the emergence of Omicron. [sources/photo special]
