This is your Malaysia visa update for December 28th, 2020.
According to the South China Morning Post, Asian governments have moved to tighten movement and travel restrictions to contain the threat of the new, potentially more contagious strain of coronavirus.
Meanwhile, three cases of the variant that recently emerged in the UK have been confirmed in South Korea, health authorities said.
Malaysia on Monday extended a conditional movement control order in capital Kuala Lumpur, Sabah and Selangor by two weeks to help contain the spread of coronavirus infections.
The restrictions that had been due to end on December 31 will continue until January 14. Although interstate and inter-districts travel will remain unaffected, borders will stay closed for foreign tourists, he said.
Covid-19 cases in Malaysia topped 100,000 for the first time on Christmas Eve, and daily cases hit a record 2,235 on Saturday. The government is struggling to stem a fresh wave that emerged in September. The government has not ruled out further tightening of the standard operating procedures aimed at preventing the spread of infections if violations are widespread. The nation added 1,594 new Covid cases on Monday. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte also on Monday extended partial coronavirus restrictions in the capital, Manila, until the end of January.
Thailand also announced its first coronavirus death in nearly two months and tightened restrictions on entertainment businesses in its capital on Monday, in a bid to contain an outbreak that has reached more than half the country’s provinces.
Authorities confirmed 144 new infections on Monday as new clusters emerged stemming from its biggest outbreak yet, prompting a ban in Bangkok on betting businesses and midnight closures for its bars, nightclubs and music venues until January 4.Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said he was undergoing two weeks of quarantine after exposure to an infected provincial governor, while house speaker Chuan Leekpai asked 29 parliamentary staffers to seek tests after meeting a person who contracted the virus. Bangkok’s tighter measures follow similar regulations in some of the 43 provinces with cases since a big outbreak was discovered 11 days ago among migrant workers at a seafood market in Samut Sakhon, a province near the capital.
A cluster has been found in the eastern province of Rayong linked to a gambling den, with 92 infections in three days and one death, a 45-year-old man.Meanwhile, international visitors will be barred from entering Indonesia for a two-week period in a bid to stem the spread of the new strain, foreign minister Retno Marsudi said on Monday.
The new regulation, effective January 1, came into effect days after Indonesia banned travelers from the UK and tightened rules for those arriving from Europe and Australia to limit the spread of the new strain.
Earlier this year, Indonesia banned all tourists but some exemptions have been made for business travelers. The new regulation applies to all foreign visitors with the exception of high-level government officials, Marsudi said.
Japan has also barred entry of all non-resident foreign nationals as a precaution against the new strain through January 31. The country has 220,236 cases, with 3,252 deaths as of Sunday, the Health Ministry said.
Officials in South Korea vowed to speed up efforts to launch a public coronavirus vaccination program as the country on Monday announced it had detected its first cases of the virus variant. The new strain was found in three people who had entered South Korea from London on December 22, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said on Monday. South Korea was among the countries to impose travel restrictions on the UK, barring flights until January 7.
Overall the KDCA reported 808 new cases as of midnight on Sunday, the lowest since a record 1,241 infections were logged on Friday. South Korea has reported a total of 57,680 coronavirus cases, with 819 deaths.
Authorities cautioned that the drop may be due to less testing done over the weekend and the Christmas holiday, and said on Sunday they would be extending social distancing measures until early January.
South Korea’s government has faced mounting domestic criticism over its vaccine procurement and roll-out plans, which call for the first vaccinations to begin in the first quarter of next year, months after places such as the United States and the European Union.
Negative views of the vaccine plans was one of the leading reasons that drove President Moon Jae-in’s disapproval rating to an all-time high of nearly 60 per cent, pollster Realmeter said on Monday.
Source:
#Malaysia #Visa