Malaysians can soon travel within states without the need to get a police permit as the Malaysian government will lift the interstate travel ban.
The government had said previously that the ban on interstate travel would be lifted once 90 percent of adults are fully vaccinated.
Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said on Wednesday (Sept 22): “We will allow tourism centres, islands (to reopen), and interstate travel with the condition of achieving 90 percent adult vaccination according to Health Ministry’s data.”
A total of 89.4 percent (as of Oct 9) of the adult population have been fully vaccinated and it’ll be a matter of days to hit the 90% target.
The interstate travel will not be similar to the Langkawi travel bubble as the government and authorities can’t have roadblocks and check every single person who leaves and if they are not vaccinated or even make them do a self-test.
“It is not like the Langkawi travel bubble, where there are not that many people and you can test them at the airport. It is impossible to check everyone,” he explained.
Although the travel ban will be lifted, Health Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah urged people to continue to take precautions and adhere to the SOPs. Furthermore, the permission on interstate travel will be enforced simultaneously nationwide.
“Simultaneously nationwide. If the whole country has achieved 90 percent (vaccination rate), we expect the states to have exceeded the 80 percent average. So, that is why we will announce shortly, in a day, two days, or three days we do not know yet. Wait, but it won’t be very long,” said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
However, Sabah may not open its borders too soon for interstate travellers, even if the health ministry allows the current ban to be lifted due to their lower percentage of fully vaccinated adults.
According to FMT, State Covid-19 spokesman Masidi Manjun said the state government may opt not to permit movements from outside state lines until Sabah reaches a better vaccination rate.
“Sabah will have its own rules considering that the fully vaccinated adult population is only around 65% in the state,” he told FMT.
Hence, we can expect an official announcement next week once Malaysia hits 90 percent of fully vaccinated adults and which states are included or excluded.
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