KUCHING, April 26 — The Sarawak state government has banned the entry of travellers from India to prevent the spread of the new type of COVID-19 virus from a variant of concern (VOC) said the State Disaster Management Committee (JPBN).
JPBN in a statement today said the restriction which came into immediate effect also involved those who have travelled to India within 30 days.
Recently Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob was reported as saying that travellers from India arriving in Malaysia were required to undergo the mandatory 14-day quarantine instead of 10 days previously.
He said the move was a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of new types of VOCs in the country as some of the variants were detected in Malaysia, such as variant B.1.351 or known as the South African variant.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) report, there are three types of VOCs namely B.1.351 which was first reported in South Africa, B.1.1.7 from the United Kingdom; and B.1.1.28 or P1 from Brazil and Japan.
According to JPBN, Sarawak recorded 615 new COVID-19 cases today bringing the total number of cases to 28,529.
Six deaths were reported and the number of fatalities due to the disease stood at 162 people, it said.
Three new clusters were also detected in the state namely Sungai Senibung in Julau; Pondok in Belaga and Jalan Sebauh-Bintulu in Sebauh, it added.
