KUALA LUMPUR, 3 May 2022: Malaysia pulled the plug on most Covid-19 travel restrictions for fully vaccinated travellers effective 1 May.
The new measures bring Malaysia in line with Covid-19 travel rules in neighbouring ASEAN countries, particularly Thailand and Singapore and considerably easier than is currently the case in Indonesia. In its favour, Malaysia stands out for abolishing the need to buy Covid-19 insurance as a condition for entry.
Tourism Malaysia outlined the new measures that came into effect on Sunday.
Fully-vaccinated inbound travellers are no longer required to undergo pre-departure and on-arrival Covid-19 tests, including children age 12 and under and those infected with Covid-19 within six to 60 days before departure to Malaysia.
Travel insurance is no longer required for foreigners entering the country.
Travellers who are not fully vaccinated against Covid-19 still need to take an RT-PCR test two days before their flight departure to Malaysia and a professionally-administered RTK-Ag test within 24 hours after arrival in Malaysia. They must observe a five-day quarantine (quarantine exemption is only for those aged 17 and under).
Optional mask-wearing
The wearing of masks outdoors is now optional but still mandatory when visiting indoor venues such as shopping malls, offices, public transportation, and e-hailing rides.
However, health authorities encourage masks wearing in crowded places. Physical distancing rules have been scrapped, and people are now free to shake hands, but good hand hygiene is recommended.
Check-in via the contact tracing app MySejahtera is not required, but the MySJ Trace function should be activated for contact tracing.
The seven-day mandatory quarantine for positive cases remains, and the MySejahtera app is used for the Covid-19 test results submission and health assessment. However, those who test positive for Covid-19 may be released earlier from quarantine if they retur4n a negative result of a professionally-administered RTK-Ag test on day four.
(Source: Tourism Malaysia; health ministry announcements).
