The Ministry of Health is including Saudi Arabia into ‘countries of high risk’ after Malaysia detected 30 cases of the Omicron variant from travelers returning from that country after performing Umrah.
Other countries in the list include, Australia, USA, United Kingdom, Norway, France, Denmark, Canada, Nigeria, and India, visitors or Malaysians retiring from these countries will be subjected to stricter SOP’s in view of the Omicron variant that is regarded to be highly transmissible.
Saudi joins the list when the Ministry tested 145 Covid-19 cases recently and detected 30 from the patients to be of the Omicron variant. Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, noted that those who returned after performing their Umrah had not adhered to home quarantine. He also stated that the variant could already be among the community and advised everyone to be extra cautious and not let our guards down.
Protocols
Protocols under the high-risk list for those coming from there must conduct a PCR-Covid 19 test 2 days before departing from that country and another test upon arriving. They will also have to wear a digital tracker and mandatory quarantine for either 7 or 10 days depending on their vaccination status. Depending on approval by HQA they will proceed to home or designated quarantine venue.
They will be then asked to perform PCR test on the 5th day for those undergoing 7-day quarantine and on the 8th day for those undergoing 10-day quarantine. Officers will conduct a risk assessment on the final day of quarantine and will decide with more days need to be added if symptoms persist.
For those from UK, the Ministry instructs travelers to conduct daily RTK-Ag while under quarantine and update on the MySejeahtera application.
