M’sia may open up borders by Q2

Khairy: Health Ministry working on SOP to enable safe reopening

BATU PAHAT: Malaysia could see its borders fully reopen by the second quarter of this year, says Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

He noted that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob had directed his ministry to come up with guidelines within two weeks for Malaysia to reopen its borders safely.

“The ministry will come up with the standard operating procedure (SOP) for reopening borders and there are several stages we have to go through for it to be approved.

“I will present the SOP to the Covid-19 pandemic management committee, which is chaired by the Prime Minister, and to the quartet ministers, which is led by (Senior Minister) Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.

“Finally, I would present it to the Cabinet for approval as it involves a major national policy as the decision to reopen the country’s border does not fall under my ministry,” he said after visiting a private clinic offering the B40 Healthcare Scheme (Peka B40) to people in the district here.

Khairy added that Ismail Sabri would make the official announcement on when the country’s borders would fully reopen.

“It could be in the early second quarter of this year, but the Prime Minister would be the one to make such an announcement,” he said.

On Friday, Ismail Sabri said the Health Ministry had been given two to three weeks to present to the Cabinet proposals and SOP for reopening the country’s borders.

He said a decision on whether to open the borders must be looked into carefully as the government had been receiving a lot of feedback, including public views, for more government intervention, especially with regards to the Covid19 SOP.

“If there was a choice, we would like to open up the economy, especially since tourism income is huge, which would help the nation. At the same time, we need to protect the people, so a balance is what is being sought.

“We have given the Health Ministry two to three weeks, and it has to present (its proposals) for the Cabinet to decide whether to fully reopen borders or with restrictions involving selected countries,” the premier said in response to National Recovery Council (NRC) chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s statement on the importance of reopening the country’s borders.

On Feb 8, Muhyiddin had announced that the NRC recommended the nation’s borders be fully reopened on March 1 without the need for mandatory quarantine, saying that the move was aimed at supporting the nation’s economic recovery.

Later that day, Hishammuddin, who is also Defence Minister, said the Immigration Department, Health Ministry and Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry would study the NRC’S recommendation to fully reopen Malaysia’s borders on March 1.