KUALA LUMPUR, June 22 — The Health Ministry is the authoritative body for Malaysia that determines the Covid-19 categories in other countries, said Health D-G Datuk Dr Noor Hisham.
The director-general told a Covid-19 press conference today that his ministry was the one that decided the six “green zone” countries that Malaysia plans to open its borders to in the near future.
“The Health Ministry identifies these countries based on their domestic rate of infection or from their import cases involving foreigners. We also identify their trends in the near future,” said Dr Noor Hisham.
He told a press conference last week that Putrajaya is in the midst of discussing opening its borders with Singapore, Brunei, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea.
He said that today the discussion involving multiple government agencies such as Wisma Putra and their foreign counterparts is still in the early stages.
There is no solid agreement between any of the countries involved and he added that the deals must be mutual and reciprocal.
Dr Noor Hisham expects the negotiations will come to an end either during the recovery movement control order (RMCO) period, which is until August 31, or slightly after.
