HANOI - Malaysia has said it will shortly start reissuing visas to Vietnamese workers after it barred them from entering the country o­n April 1 in a bid to control the Sars outbreak, officials said today.

"The Malaysian embassy in Hanoi informed the Vietnamese authorities o­n Monday that it will start granting visas for Vietnamese workers in the next few days," said an official from the labour ministry's department overseeing the foreign-employed labour force.

"We have already informed the labour-export companies to ensure they are ready to start sending people to Malaysia again."

All Vietnamese workers travelling to Malaysia will have to use Malaysia Airlines and will be examined by its medical staff to make sure they do not have Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars), the official said.

They will also have to carry medical certificates issued by Vietnamese health authorities saying they do not have the disease.

Under control

A Malaysian embassy spokesman confirmed the information, saying Vietnam appeared to have brought the outbreak under control.

Sars has killed five people and infected 63 in Vietnam, but there have been no new infections since April 8 when a man from Ninh Binh province, south of Hanoi, fell ill with the disease.

The World Health Organization confirmed the case o­n April 12.

Earlier this month Malaysia put in place restrictions o­n people travelling from other Sars-affected countries but it has subsequently reduced or lifted some of the curbs.

After a long test period, the Malaysian government in February 2002 granted official permission to 46 Vietnamese labour-export companies to send workers to the country.

More than 13,000 Vietnamese workers were sent to Malaysia in the first three months of this year according to official figures. - AFP