B40 students, OKUs exempted from Covid-19 quarantine costs
Students from families who fall under the B40 income category and persons with disabilities entering Malaysia are exempted from paying for the costs of their 14-day mandatory quarantine at the designated centres.
Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the new standard operating procedure will come into force tomorrow after the government had revoked the previous home quarantine procedure for overseas returnees.
"Everyone involved will have to...
Students from families who fall under the B40 income category and persons with disabilities entering Malaysia are exempted from paying for the costs of their 14-day mandatory quarantine at the designated centres.
Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the new standard operating procedure will come into force tomorrow after the government had revoked the previous home quarantine procedure for overseas returnees.
"Everyone involved will have to fully cover the costs of Covid-19 screening and daily quarantine costs either at public training institutes or hotels," said Ismail during his press conference held at Parliament.
"For scholarship students, their sponsors are requested to cover their costs.
"As for students from B40 families, they can request for an exemption (from payment)," he said, adding that persons with disabilities are similarly exempted from payment.
Ismail said the government has also decided to allow children aged 12 years and below to share a room with their parents who returned from the same place.
"But those who want to share a room must first sign an agreement letter.
"This is so they understand the risk of infection by doing so," he said.
On the arrival figures for yesterday, Ismail said 588 Malaysians had arrived at KLIA and KLIA2 from Hong Kong, Indonesia, Qatar, Singapore, Brunei, Nepal, UAE, Bangladesh, and India.
He said 587 were allowed to observe their quarantine period at home while one was taken to the hospital.
Foreigners entering Sarawak must quarantine
Meanwhile, Ismail said the Sarawak government has decided to enforce a mandatory 14-days quarantine at designated centres for foreigners entering the state from overseas via transit in Kuala Lumpur.
"For passengers entering only from the peninsula, no decision has been made whether they will be subject to mandatory quarantine or otherwise," said Ismail, adding that random Covid-19 tests will still be conducted on the arrivals.
He was responding to a question on whether stricter measures will be imposed in Sarawak after a recent uptrend in new Covid-19 infections, including a passenger on a Kuala Lumpur-Kuching flight was reported yesterday.
Overall, Ismail also said the government has no immediate plans to reopen Malaysia's borders beyond its current arrangements with Singapore.
