KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 1 (NNN-Bernama) — The Malaysian government has decided to temporarily suspend the permission for travelling to perform the umrah beginning Jan 8 to curb the spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant.
In announcing this on Saturday, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the authorities were concerned that non-compliance with home quarantine procedures among returning pilgrims had caused the spread of the new variant among family members.
“Most pilgrims who returned from performing the umrah applied to undergo their seven-day quarantine at home. However, when there was non-compliance with the stipulated standard operating procedure (SOP), positive COVID-19 cases among umrah pilgrims caused the infection to spread among family members.
“Due to non-compliance with the home quarantine procedures, family members living in the same house or neighbours and relatives who come visiting are exposed to COVID-19 infection,” he told a press conference here.
He said special meetings held Friday to discuss the situation, decided to temporarily suspend the permission for travelling to perform the umrah beginning Jan 8 until a date to be announced later, and bookings for new umrah flight tickets have been suspended effective Saturday (Jan 1).
Khairy said it was also decided that pilgrims returning to Malaysia beginning Jan 3 would have to undergo compulsory quarantine at quarantine stations or hotels designated by
“Pilgrims leaving for the Holy Land (Mecca) between Jan 1 and 7, 2022 will be allowed to proceed with their journey. However, they need to undergo quarantine at quarantine stations or hotels identified by National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA) on their return to Malaysia.
Meanwhile, Khairy said 2,763 positive COVID-19 cases were detected among travellers who arrived at the country’s international entry points between Jan 1 and Dec 30 last year, and of this number, 1,446 positive cases were found among those who arrived from Saudi Arabia, followed by Singapore (322 cases), Indonesia (264), and the United Kingdom (217).
— NNN-BERNAMA
