PUTRAJAYA, March 5 (Bernama) — Malaysia will immediately impose temporary restriction on all tourists who were or have been to certain cities or regions in Italy, Japan and Iran 14 days prior to arriving here.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the temporary restriction covers the city of Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna in Italy; Hokkaido in Japan; and Tehran, Qom and Gilan in Iran.
This was decided upon at the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Disease Cluster Working Committee meeting, which was chaired by Chief Secretary to the Government Datuk Seri Mohd Zuki Ali at Perdana Putra today.
Noor Hisham told reporters after the meeting that the restriction applied to everyone who lived in or visited those places 14 days prior to arriving in Malaysia.
“Considering the status of the COVID-19 outbreak in the country, the meeting also decided, among other things, that Malaysians who are in these cities or regions take precautions, improve personal health care and always obey instructions issued by local authorities.
“Other than that, Malaysians overseas are also encouraged to register with the nearest Malaysian embassy,” he said.
Earlier, Malaysia also decided to temporarily restrict entry to tourists from South Korea as well as several regions of China when the outbreak reached worrying levels.
Noor Hisham said the temporary restriction was also applicable to all tourists, except Malaysians, permanent residents, social pass and Malaysian student pass holders.
Meanwhile, he said any offices or organisations found to have positive COVID-19 cases need not shut down but, instead, just carry out constant cleaning and disenfection to avoid creating panic.
Members identified by the Health Ministry as being in close contact with those infected will be screened and should remain calm and cooperate by giving accurate information to the health workers.
“At the same time, do not make viral any information which can cause concern among the public,” he said, adding that the ministry had handed over to the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission the fake news on COVID-19 which have gone viral on social media.
