The current Covid-19 progresses in the United States with a total of 702,164 confirmed cases recorded as of today (18 April) according to the statistics provided by John Hopkins University.
Just when we thought the United States would attempt to evacuate its citizens who are currently in Malaysia, the US Embassy released a press statement yesterday (17 April) in regards to the evacuation.
In the statement, it was announced that international commercial flight options currently exist in Malaysia. The Embassy urged US citizens who wish to return to the United States to make commercial arrangements as soon as possible unless they are prepared to remain abroad for an indefinite period.
The US government does not anticipate arranging repatriation flights in Malaysia at the moment.
Since Malaysia had imposed the Movement Control Order (MCO) since 18 March, and the third phase of MCO will be expected to end on 28 April, technically, no one is allowed to travel outbound or inbound. However, it will still be possible if the US citizens or Foreign Nationals have a letter from the US Embassy.
“U.S. citizens and Foreign Nationals traveling to the United States who wish to depart Malaysia during the Movement Control Order MUST have a letter from the U.S. Embassy.”
The statement wrote that US citizens may depart Malaysia during the MCO period only if they possess the required documents. The Malaysian authorities require them to bring the documents to the airport prior to departure. The documents include valid travel documents including passport and airline tickets, written concurrence from the foreign nationals’ Diplomatic Mission, as well as a written movement permit from the nearest police station.
US citizens are allowed to request a travel letter from the US Embassy as long as they could fulfil the aforementioned requirement.
The US Embassy clarified that they will not be able to book flight tickets on the US citizens’ behalf. The citizens are expected to reach out to airlines and utilise commercial websites to book or change their tickets.
The citizens have also been warned that there are currently very limited commercial flights departing Malaysia. Travellers are requested to closely monitor the situation in Malaysia and other transit countries before travel.
The Embassy said,
“The Embassy is aware of commercial flights from Kuala Lumpur to the U.S. through Tokyo, Doha, and London. Please note that flight schedules are likely to change with little advance notice and commercial flight options will likely become increasingly limited over the coming days.”
The information in this story is accurate as of press time. However, as the situation surrounding COVID-19 continues to evolve, it’s possible that some data have changed since publication. While WORLD OF BUZZ is trying to keep our stories as up-to-date as possible, we also encourage readers to stay informed on news and recommendations through other sources.
Also read: BREAKING: Covid-19 Cases Exceed 100k in The United States
