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Malaysian Minister for Tourism, Arts, and Culture Nancy Shukri announced on Sep. 21 that Genting Highlands, Melaka and Tioman Island will be included in Malaysia's domestic travel bubble and may reopen to fully-vaccinated domestic visitors from Oct. 1, Malay Mail reported.

Industry players told to prepare to receive visitors

As of now, only Langkawi has been opened to visitors since Sep. 16 under the pilot domestic travel bubble, Malaysiakini reported.

Under the pilot programme, only fully-vaccinated individuals are allowed to travel to Langkawi. Those under the age of 18 who are not vaccinated are permitted to travel together with their fully-vaccinated parents.

Visitors are also required to take the pre-departure Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction or antigen rapid test. In addition, they are required to test themselves for Covid-19 within 48 hours upon arrival.

According to Bernama, Nancy further said the ministry had approved the three locations, and that industry players there were told to be ready to receive visitors.

Nancy added that the ministry would be adding more destinations after further discussions.

No Covid-19 detected among tourist arrivals so far

As for the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the destinations, she said they needed to be refined to encompass both island and mainland destinations.

The refined SOPs, Nancy said, would look into several areas in managing Covid-19, such as swab test operations, which was "rather complicated" as it involves a large area, Malay Mail reported.

According to Kedah health director Othman Warijo, since its reopening on Sep. 16, Langkawi has recorded 9,500 tourist arrivals, and there had not been any Covid-19 positive cases among them.

Malaysia achieved 80% adult vaccination rate

Malaysia's Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said that Malaysia had achieved an 80 per cent fully vaccinated rate among its adult population as of 1pm on Sep. 21.

Pada jam 1300hrs hari ini, Malaysia telah mencapai sasaran 80% penduduk dewasa lengkap divaksinasi. Walaupun sasaran awal adalah 80% populasi dewasa, sekarang @JKJAVMY akan berusaha untuk menjejaki 20% lagi yang belum atau enggan divaksinasi. https://t.co/N3fuC7Qd0u

— Khairy Jamaluddin 🇲🇾🌺 (@Khairykj) September 21, 2021

With this milestone, Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob also took to his Twitter to congratulate Malaysians on their success and urged them to continue their fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tahniah! Malaysia mencapai 80% populasi dewasa negara telah lengkap divaksinasi.

Teruskan usaha kita perangi COVID-19. #LindungDiriLindungSemua

— Ismail Sabri (@IsmailSabri60) September 21, 2021

Khairy added that the Special Committee on Ensuring Access to Covid-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV) would continue its efforts in ensuring that the remaining 20 per cent of the adult population would be inoculated against Covid-19.

"Although the initial target was 80 per cent of the adult population, JKJAV will now endeavour to track down the remaining 20 per cent who have not or are reluctant to be vaccinated," he said.

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Top image via LowyatNet/Twitter