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THE MALAYSIAN government decided to fully reopen its borders without mandatory quarantine from Tuesday 1 March 2022 as a move to help the country’s economic recovery.
“However, COVID-19 tests before departure and upon arrival at the national border gate must be carried out according to the recommendations of the Ministry of Health. The opening of state borders needs to be carried out in a planned and based on an existing risk assessment,” said Chairman of the State Recovery Council (MPN) Muhyidin Yassin in Kuala Lumpur, Tuesday (2/08).
He said his party had listened to the direction of the Minister of Health Khairy Jamaluddin about the situation and the latest developments of COVID-19, in particular the transmission of the Omicron variant.
“Despite the increase in daily cases of COVID-19, the booster dose strategy and control measures of the Malaysian Ministry of Health have succeeded in reducing the admissions of category three to five COVID-19 cases in hospitals,” said Muhyidin.
Malaysia has one of the highest vaccination rates in the world. About 98% of the adult population and more than 78 percent of the country’s population have received the full vaccine.
“More than 50% of the adult population have also received their booster doses. This has helped lighten the burden on the national health system. The delivery of booster vaccines to adolescents and children will be increased after taking into account the emergence of Omicron variants,” he stated.
Regarding economic recovery, he said the government had provided various financial assistance in the form of grants and loans to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) through various government financing institutions and national banks.
“In this regard, MPN recommends that adjustments to all financial assistance by various parties be carried out systematically to increase the use of resources more optimally, on target and based on needs so that there is no duplication and more entrepreneurs who are truly affected can continue,” ” he said.
According to Muhyidin, MPN also noted that the construction industry in Malaysia is currently facing rising building material prices, a shortage of foreign workers and is also affected by the Movement Control Order (PKP) or “total lockdown”.
“The construction industry is very important to stimulate the country’s economic growth in the process of national recovery. In this regard, MPN supports the recommendations of the Construction Industry Development Council (CIDB) for immediate and long-term solutions to more structural problems,” he concluded. [antaranews/photo special]
