By Karen Bong
KUCHING, Feb 18: It is time to do away with mandatory quarantine as proof of full vaccination should be sufficient for travellers to resume leisure activities including travel vacation.
Minister of Tourism, Creative Industries and Performing Arts Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah pointed this out in supporting the recommendation by the National Recovery Council (NRC) to fully reopen the country’s international borders as early as March 1 without quarantine requirement.
“I welcome that (the suggestion) because I have always wanted all this quarantine to be put aside.
“So long as they (visitors or travellers) are fully vaccinated, that’s good enough. If we need to quarantine, who would want to travel?” he asked.
Moreover, Abdul Karim emphasised that anybody who wanted to travel or move around must be fully vaccinated.
He highlighted this to reporters after the signing of Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) between the Sarawak Sports Council (SSC) and Kuching City FC as well as Chinese New Year celebration at a hotel here today.
The Minister of Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development viewed that mandatory quarantine will complicate travel and frustrate the recovery of the economy, especially the tourism sector hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic in the last two years.
Meanwhile, Minister of Health Khairy Jamaluddin has also announced yesterday (Feb 17) its ministry will be issuing new guidelines next week to address isolation protocols for those identified as Covid-19 close contacts.
For a start, he said that the public healthcare workers who are categorised as close contacts would not be required to undergo quarantine but will need to perform Covid-19 tests on certain days instead.
The Ministry of Health, he added, may apply a similar protocol for the public when it is suitable. — DayakDaily
