The entry for long-term pass visitors from India, Indonesia and the Philippines will be restricted from 7 September 2020, according to Malaysia’s Minister of Defence.
Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri bin Yaakob, the Minister of Defence did not specify the reason for imposing bans on the three countries. However, the upsurging Covid-19 cases in India, Indonesia and the Philippines may explain the decision.
Until today, India recorded a total of 3,691,166 Covid-19 cases, whereas the total cases in the Philippines raised to 220,819 with 3,563 death cases. Indonesia, on the other hand, is reported to have had 174,796 cases with 7,417 death cases.
It was even reported that 100 doctors in Indonesia have died from Covid-19 and the number of cases and deaths continue to rise in the country.
“In the past, I had announced some concessions (for diplomats, EP1 category expatriates, Malaysia My Second Home participants, students resuming their courses, Malaysians on visit overseas and students abroad), but looking at the sudden increase in cases, we decided to impose entry restrictions,” he said at a daily press conference on the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) on 1 September 2020, according to BERNAMA.
Partners/spouses of Malaysian citizens from these countries and currently still there and their children, as well as students from these three countries who wanted to return to Malaysia, will also be blocked.
Due to concerns of a sharp increase in COVID-19 positive cases in countries which were experiencing winter, the government would also review restrictions on long-term pass holders from other countries, said Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
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