Out and about: Tourists walking around Chinatown at Petaling Street, Kuala Lumpur. Over a million Chinese tourists are expected to visit Malaysia after China’s travel ban, in place since March 2020, is lifted today. — SAMUEL ONG/The Star
KUALA LUMPUR: It is neither appropriate nor effective for now to tighten standard operating procedures for the entry of travellers from other countries, including China, says the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry.
Minister Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing said while public safety and health would remain a priority for the ministry, the entry of travellers is important to strike a balance between the people’s well-being and the country’s economic interests.
“So far, we have retained the status quo and continue to monitor developments from time to time.
“If there is a change of situation and an urgent need, of course we will ensure a more stringent SOP,” he said in a statement quoted by Bernama yesterday.
Over a million Chinese tourists are expected to visit Malaysia after China’s travel ban, in place since March 2020, is lifted today.
The move comes after China announced it is doing away with its “zero-Covid” policy and lifting quarantine requirements for international arrivals.
However, since the dismantling of its zero-Covid policy, the country has seen a surge of infections.
Malaysia’s Health Ministry has since announced that wastewater from planes arriving from China would be tested to detect Covid-19 while all arrivals from abroad will be screened for fever at international ports of entry.
Those detected with fever and symptoms or who self-declare symptoms will be referred to a quarantine centre or the health authorities for further examination and a Covid-19 test.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has said that two Omicron subvariants – BA.5.2 and BF.7, which make up about 80% of the variants currently infecting China – had been detected in Malaysia since March 16 and Aug 21 last year.
The United States, said Tiong, recorded 99 million infections and 1.08 million deaths due to Covid-19 while China recorded 31,000 deaths with 10.16 million positive cases.
“That’s why if we look, neighbouring countries such as Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia have not tightened the entry [requirements for] travellers from China.
“At the same time, there are questions about the arrival of travellers from the United States, Japan, South Korea and France, which have also recorded a high number of infections.
“Considering China’s population of 1.4 billion, the death rate due to the pandemic is 0.002%. The number of cases in Malaysia is 5.02 million with 0.7% of deaths recorded,” he said.
Prior to this, Malaysia, Tiong pointed out, had received travellers from around the world despite some being from countries with high rates of infections.
“We are thankful because the Covid-19 situation in Malaysia can be considered to be under control.
“In fact, China has also passed the Covid-19 infection surge phase so tightening the existing SOP is not appropriate and effective for now,” he said.
He said the RM30bil figure mentioned earlier was to show the importance of tourism and its economic value specifically involving travellers from China.
“This is also in line with the expected increase in travellers from China to Malaysia, from three million in 2019 to about six million this year,” he said.
Tiong said the issue of discrimination must be taken seriously, adding that he had made comparisons with other countries which were also likely to be a high risk for Covid-19 spread in this country.
He said what had been raised before was to ensure that there was no discrimination against travellers from any country, including China.
“It is important to maintain diplomatic relations between Malaysia and foreign countries, especially our trading partners,” he said.
