He said that given the increased risk of travellers coming from India, the 21-day required quarantine was warranted, but questioned why arrivals from certain countries are still only asked to observe a one-week isolation period.

In a Facebook post, the Pekan MP pointed to the health ministry’s decision to extend the quarantine period to 40 days for travellers from 40 countries over concerns of new variants.

“Visitors from countries not on the list are still only subject to a mandatory quarantine period of seven days. Yet, I’ve read that the World Health Organization has said that the Indian variant alone has been detected in 44 countries in the world – which exceeds the 40 countries on Malaysia’s list.

“I believe it is more reasonable for Malaysia to remove the list of 40 countries and replace it with the implementation of a 14-day quarantine period for all countries (except 21 days for India).” he said.

He said this was particularly pressing given the detection of variants that appear to be spreading in Malaysia.

“Last night, the health ministry said that 66 South African variant cases and five Indian variant cases had already been detected in Malaysia. Malaysia’s Covid-19 condition at this moment is critical, we should not increase the risk in the country.”

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