THE vaccinated travel lane (VTL) between Singapore and Malaysia will continue even though cases of the Omicron Covid-19 variant had been detected in both countries, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said today.

He said that the decision had been affirmed through his conversation with Singapore Health Minister Ong Ye Kung this morning.

“I have spoken to my Singaporean counterpart and we will continue to update each other daily and coordinate our response accordingly,” Khairy said.

“Those who use the VTL to enter into Malaysia will have to conduct an additional Covid-19 self-test on the third and seventh days from their arrival.”

He told reporters this during an online press conference right after he announced that Malaysia had detected its first case of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

The carrier was a 19-year-old foreign student who had entered the country through Singapore on November 19 and had undergone a quarantine period of 10 days.

The Singaporean Health Ministry also reported yesterday two imported Covid-19 cases that had preliminarily tested positive for the Omicron variant.

Both cases were isolated upon arrival in Singapore on Wednesday.

At present, Malaysia only has a VTL arrangement with Singapore by land and air.

The VTL arrangement from November 29 allows quarantine-free travel, requiring only a pre-departure negative Covid-19 test result and another test taken upon arrival.

Malaysians stranded in the republic had been waiting to return for nearly two years.

Businesses in Johor had also looked forward to it, in the hope the state’s economy would pick up. – December 3, 2021.