KUCHING: The country is doing the right move by banning long term pass holders from India, Indonesia and the Philippines to prevent the second and third wave of Covid-19 pandemic.
On Tuesday (September 1), Senior Minister for Security, Datuk Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the new restrictions will come into force starting Sept 7.
The restrictions apply to permanent residents, Malaysia My-Second-Home pass holders, expatriates, spousal visa holders and foreign students.
Ismail said Malaysia was keeping a close eye on countries that might suffer a possible spike in Covid-19 infections during the upcoming winter season.
Chairman of Sarawak Housing and Real Estate Developers’ Association (Sheda) Kuching Branch, Sim Khiang Cheok, said that with the people from these affected countries coming in for long term stay might put our local community at risk.
“The only movement on the legal foreign workers from these countries is no new intake will be allowed to come.
“Those in these industries will have to wait on continuing its productivity, and make do with existing human resources,” he said in a statement on Wednesday (September 2).
Moreover, Sim also stated that now was the right time for those industries to be more automated with machines, to start considering to upgrade and use less human inputs in their production process.
“Those who have entered our country before the ban should have been checked for their health and are then confirmed safe for them to work in our country.
“These restrictions will be expected to be flexible to cover those countries with increasing Covid-19 infections, and our greatest hope in removing these restrictions will be for the medical science to find a cure or a vaccine against the virus,” he explained.
Furthermore, Sim pointed out that the good news about the vaccines is that being tested on human beings in several countries are being carried out, and the best hope is that these vaccines will be effective and can be used by all, hopefully next year.
“In the meantime, we still have to comply with the standard operating procedures (SOPs) of social distancing, washing your hands and wearing face masks in crowded places,” he concluded.
