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Malaysia's airline and bus operators will temporarily freeze the selling of tickets into Singapore under the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) from Dec. 23, 2021, to Jan. 20, 2022, according to the country's health minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

Sale freeze due to possible Omicron cluster in Singapore

In a statement posted by Khairy on his Twitter account on Dec. 22, he said that the suspension was in light of the latest development of a possible Covid-19 cluster involving the Omicron variant announced by Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) on Dec. 20.

Due to the latest development on Omicron variant reported in Singapore, the sales of VTL Air and Land tickets will be temporarily suspended effective from 23 Dec 2021. Those who have bought their tickets can proceed with their journey. pic.twitter.com/YJXcpDKVHm

— Khairy Jamaluddin 🇲🇾🌺 (@Khairykj) December 22, 2021

He added that ticket sales for both air and land VTL will restart on Jan. 21, 2022, "after a risk assessment of the Covid-19 situation in both countries has been done".

Furthermore, Khairy said that the quota for tickets will be reduced once sales resume.

He reassured those who had bought their flight or bus tickets already, saying they are allowed to travel to Singapore under the VTL scheme so long as they meet the requirements.

According to the statement, Malaysia's health ministry also urged travellers to be responsible and adhere to Covid-19 protocols.

Singapore freezes sale of new VTL tickets

On Dec. 22, MOH announced that the authorities have stopped new sales of VTL land and flight tickets into Singapore from Dec. 23 this year to Jan. 20, 2022.

MOH said that the temporary freeze was to limit Singapore's exposure to imported cases of the Omicron variant.

Travellers who already hold a ticket on a VTL flight or bus and meet all the other VTL requirements can continue to travel under the VTL during this time period.

MOH said that after Jan. 20, 2022, the VTL quotas and ticket sales for travel will be temporarily reduced.

In a media release on the same day, Dec. 22, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore said it will cap the total ticket sales for designated VTL flights entering Singapore to 50 per cent of the allocated quota.

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Top images via Malaysia Airports/Facebook and @shawnanggg on Unsplash