Omicron fears: Malaysia suspends vaccinated travel lane with Singapore

Kuala Lumpur, Dec 22 : Malaysia and Singapore have agreed to suspend the sale of flight and bus tickets for the vaccinated travel lane (VTL) after a cluster of possible cases of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 was detected in Singapore, Malaysias Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said on Wednesday.

The suspension will run from December 23 to January 20 next year, Khairy said in a statement following Singapores announcement of the same measure, Xinhua news agency reported.

Khairy said the cluster in Singapore involved three Covid infections."All three cases did not have any travel history to foreign countries," he said.

The VTL kicked off on November 29 and involved travel via the bridge connecting Malaysia to Singapore as well as an air corridor.The bridge link, or causeway, was one of the busiest crossing points in the world with a daily flow of hundreds of thousands of people in both directions before the pandemic.Some restrictions were eased as part of the VTL including quarantine requirements being waived for fully vaccinated individuals.

Omicron concerns: Malaysia stops vaccinated travelers from Singapor

Khairy stated that the three Covid infections in this cluster were from Singapore.He stated that none of the three Covid cases had traveled to other countriesOn November 29, the VTL was launched.

It involved both travel over the bridge linking Malaysia and Singapore, as well as through an air corridor.Before the outbreak, the bridge link (or causeway) was the most popular crossing point in the world.

It saw hundreds of thousands of people daily in each direction.The VTL included some restrictions, including the removal of quarantine for individuals who are fully vaccinated.

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