Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has announced that interstate travel will be allowed once again starting from Monday, 11 October for fully vaccinated individuals. The policy which has been imposed in one form or another for the past two years under the Movement Control Order (MCO) and National Recovery Plan (PPN), is being removed after the rate of fully vaccinated adults in Malaysia has reached 90 per cent.
The announcement today is in line with what the PM has announced back in late September. PM Ismail also said that tourism activities throughout Malaysia can resume once again as well, now that there is no longer restriction on interstate movement.
Despite the announcement, PM Ismail reminds everyone that the Prevention and Control of Infection Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342) is still in place. This means authorities still have the power to take action on those that did not adhere to the SOPs including partially or non-vaccinated individuals that travel to other states.
In the example that PM Ismail mentioned in his announcement today, the police can perform random inspections on vaccination certificates at highway rest areas. He also noted that interstate travels are still being prohibited for those that reside in Enhanced MCO areas or localities.
Echoing what the Director-General of Health, Dr Noor Hisham has stated before, PM Ismail also advised Malaysians to perform a COVID-19 self-test before they begin their travel. He added that those that are experiencing symptoms such as cough, fever, flu, and breathing difficulties should delay their travel plan and get themselves checked.
(Image: RTM live stream, Rico Lee / Flickr – used under Creative Commons license.)
