Malacca declines to open borders for tourists on Oct 1
The Malacca government has declined to open borders to tourists despite Putrajaya wanting the state to join its travel bubble initiative and welcome visitors starting Oct 1.
Chief Minister Sulaiman Md Ali said Malacca will only allow interstate activities once the state achieves a 90 percent vaccination rate among its adult population based on data and analysis issued by the Health Ministry and the National Security Council (NSC).
"The tourism sectors (in Malacca) is not going to be opened from Oct 1...
The Malacca government has declined to open borders to tourists despite Putrajaya wanting the state to join its travel bubble initiative and welcome visitors starting Oct 1.
Chief Minister Sulaiman Md Ali (above) said Malacca will only allow interstate activities once the state achieves a 90 percent vaccination rate among its adult population based on data and analysis issued by the Health Ministry and the National Security Council (NSC).
"The tourism sector (in Malacca) is not going to be opened from Oct 1 as announced by the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry.
"We don't want a situation like what happened in Langkawi, where 36 Covid-19 cases were recorded on the second day after it was opened to tourists.
"So, I say 'no'. We have to be careful, we have to look at our capabilities with stricter standard operating procedures," he was quoted as saying by Melaka Hari Ini, a state-owned mouthpiece.
On Sept 21, Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Nancy Shukri said Malacca, Genting Highlands and Tioman Island will join the government's travel bubble programme.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced that interstate travel and tourism activities will be allowed once 90 percent of the country's adult population is fully vaccinated.
As of Sept 21, 93.2 percent of all adults in Malaysia have received at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose. In addition, 80.2 percent have completed their vaccinations – whether it is a single-dose vaccine from CanSino Biologics, or a two-dose vaccine from Pfizer, Sinovac, or AstraZeneca.
However, the vaccines had not been evenly distributed across the country.
As of Sept 22, Malacca recorded an 80.6 percent vaccination rate.
