Covid-19: International passengers undergo stringent health, safety screening in Malaysia, says MAHB

SEPANG, May 26 — Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) recorded about 107,000 international passenger movements in Malaysia for both arrivals and departures in April.

According to the airport operator, all of the passengers were put through stringent health and safety screening measures as determined by the Health Ministry.

MAHB said in March, the international passenger traffic movements stood at 102,000, February (73,000) and January (96,000).

The international passenger movements include foreigners who are returning to their own country, students flying out to their tertiary institutions abroad, permanent residents who are spouses or family members of Malaysian citizens, diplomats and those who have received permission from Malaysia’s Immigration Department to perform official or business travels, it said.

“All airports in Malaysia remain open from the start of the movement control order to facilitate rescue and repatriation, as well as cargo flights in and out of the country,” said MAHB in a statement today.

The statement was issued following claims circulated on various chat platforms and media reports correlating the presence of multiple Covid-19 variants in this country to the high passenger traffic movements experienced in April 2021.

MAHB said the total passenger traffic movements of 1.96 million recorded in April was for the group’s entire network of airports in Malaysia and its fully-owned Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen International Airport (ISG) in Turkey.

In its breakdown, the domestic passenger traffic movement for Malaysia airports was 523,000 while international passenger traffic movements were 107,000, while the ISG, Turkey recorded 913,000 for domestic and 441,000 for international passengers. — Bernama