JOHOR BAHRU, Dec 23 — The government’s decision to temporarily suspend the sale of bus and flight tickets under the Malaysia-Singapore Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) initiative from today until Jan 20 will affect the reopening of the economic sector in Johor.
State Investment, Entrepreneur Development, Cooperatives and Human Resources Committee chairman Datuk Mohd Izhar Ahmad said this was because the traders in Johor had already raised their capital following the implementation of the VTL on Nov 29.
“Although it is a temporary suspension or just 29 days, it will still affect the businesses in the state which rely on (shoppers from) Singapore.
“Menteri Besar Datuk Hasni Mohammad is expected to meet with Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob soon to discuss this,” he said when contacted here today.
Yesterday, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the decision was made after taking into consideration a report of the Singapore Health Ministry on Dec 20 after a local COVID-19 cluster involving three positive cases was detected, two of which showed the possibility of the Omicron variant.
Khairy said for travellers who have purchased VTL tickets via land and air as well as meeting the stipulated conditions can travel under the initiative.
On Nov 29, Malaysia and Singapore agreed to launch the VTL initiative by air and land between the two countries for travellers who have completed two doses of COVID-19 vaccination.
