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- Malaysia has opened interstate and international travel today for inoculated people as 90 per cent of adults have been vaccinated against COVID-19
- Malaysia has one of the fastest vaccination rates in the world despite near-record high levels of cases and deaths per capita for the South-East Asian region
- Tourist numbers fell to 4.33 million tourists in 2020, leaving a A$13.4 billion gap in Malaysia’s gross value added from tourism for that year
Malaysia has opened interstate and international travel today for inoculated people as 90 per cent of the adults have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
New Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said Malaysia intended to see the virus as endemic, aiming to create protocols to keep people safe while allowing maximum freedom.
Under the new rules, Malaysians will still have to quarantine for 14 days when they return to the country, while mask-wearing and social distancing will remain, Mr Yaakob said.
Malaysia has one of the fastest vaccination rates in the world despite near-record high levels of cases and deaths per capita in the south-east Asia region.
In July, the country rolled out more than 400,000 vaccinations a day, just ahead of the peak of 24,599 daily cases in August.
According to the country’s Ministry of Health, yesterday was the lowest in three months at 7373 positive cases.
Malaysian tourism
Malaysia is the latest country to open its borders, joining France, Egypt and Switzerland among others on the list of countries with lower requirements for entry or departure.
According to Tourism Malaysia, 26.1 million tourists arrived in Malaysia in 2019, contributing A$28,212.2 billion to their economy.
Last year’s tourist numbers fell to 4.33 million, leaving a A$13.4 billion gap in the country’s gross value added from tourism, considered the most accurate measure of the contribution of the industry to the economy.
