KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 12 — Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin today said there had been a noticeable increase in traffic along Malaysia’s major highways since the resumption of interstate travel yesterday.

In response, Khairy said that his ministry will monitor the situation to nip any potential Covid-19 outbreaks in the bud.

"On first day of interstate travel, we saw increase of travel on @plustrafik: Overall up 14 per cent, north bound up 20.5 per cent, south bound up 15.4 per cent, Klang Valley up 9.7 per cent.

"We will continuously monitor disease patterns and mobility data to predict potential (Covid-19) outbreaks,” he said on his Twitter today.

Khairy further said that highway concessionaires will be constantly reminded to ensure high-risk settings like rest and service areas (R&Rs), especially suraus, are well ventilated, with clear social distancing markers ahead of the expected exodus this weekend.

On Sunday, the federal government officially announced that full interstate travel restrictions would be lifted as of yesterday.

In a special address, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the announcement sees through the government’s promise to allow interstate travel after the overall 90 per cent adult vaccination rate threshold was reached.

Yesterday, national news agency Bernama reported that a total of 21,073,482 individuals, or 90 per cent of the adult population in the country, have completed their Covid-19 vaccination, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH).

Based on the MoH’s data on the CovidNow portal, 94.8 per cent or 22,185,520 adults in the country have received at least one dose of the vaccine.