THE mandatory quarantine period has been reduced to seven days for fully vaccinated persons entering the country as well as for those who are close contacts with a Covid-19 positive case.

Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced this along with the moving of several more states into the next phase of the National Recovery Plan.

Both measures will come into effect on October 18. 

A mandatory quarantine of 10 days is currently required of those entering the country and for close contacts.

The 10-day period will still be required for returning travellers and close contacts who are not or only partially vaccinated, Ismail said.

From Monday, returning travellers who are fully vaccinated can fulfil their seven-day quarantine at home, if suitable.

But travellers who are not or only partially vaccinated do not have the choice of fulfilling quarantine at home, and will have to go to a designated quarantine centre for 10 days.

Close contacts who are not or only partially vaccinated can quarantine at home and must complete 10 days.

Ismail said the government would also pilot a programme called Test and Release (T&R) for people traveling abroad, involving only fully vaccinated travellers going to low-risk countries.

T&R will involve taking a RT-PCR test three days before returning to Malaysia, and another RT-PCR test after arriving.

To test these protocols, the pilot programme, which starts on October 18, will only involve dignitaries, ministers, deputy ministers, chief ministers, state government exco members, members of Parliament and government officials.

“They must show that their itinerary is a tight one and limited only to official business.

“They must submit an application along with supporting documents to the National Security Council and the Health Ministry for approval

“Eventually, we may expand this programme to business travellers,” Ismail said.

The states that will moved from phase 2 to 3 starting Monday are Kelantan, Perak, Pulau Pinang, Sabah and Kedah.

Malacca and the Klang Valley, which covers Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, will move from phase 3 to 4. – October 15, 2021.