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Coronavirus: New Zealand braced for more variants after Omicron, PM says; Malaysia set for March reopening to foreigners | South China Morning Post
►https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/3166226/coronavirus-new-zealand-braced-more-variants-after-omicron-pm

Malaysia set for March reopening to international visitors
Malaysia’s government advisory council has agreed to reopen the nation’s borders to international visitors as early as March 1, without requiring travellers to undergo compulsory quarantine, Malaysiakini reported.
Travellers who enter Malaysia need to conduct a Covid-19 test before departure and on arrival, the report cited National Recovery Council Chairman and former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin as saying. The NRC met earlier today. The government must set a definite timeline to open the borders, Muhyiddin was quoted as saying in the local media last week. In the NRC meeting held in January, a committee comprising the Health Ministry was formed to map out the way forward, he said.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin on February 3 said his ministry will recommend to the government to open borders only after the nation’s booster vaccination rate improves. The ministry is still discussing the threshold values that it is comfortable with in regard to vaccination for children and booster shots for adults, he said. Nearly 80 per cent of Malaysia’s total population has been double jabbed, with more than 53 per cent of adults having received booster shots.The Southeast Asian nation’s borders have remained largely closed since the first lockdown was imposed in March 2020, save for citizens returning home, students, permanent residents and businessmen. Malaysia recently resumed the vaccinated travel lane with Singapore, and has agreed to begin a travel corridor with Indonesia early this year.

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#malaisie#sante#frontiere#circulation#vaccination#confinement#singapour#indonesie

Coronavirus: New Zealand braced for more variants after Omicron, PM says | South China Morning Post
►https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/3166226/coronavirus-new-zealand-braced-more-variants-after-omicron-pm

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Coronavirus: New Zealand braced for more variants after Omicron, PM says;
Updated: 2:50pm, 8 Feb, 2022
The Covid-19 pandemic will not end with the Omicron variant and New Zealand will have to prepare for more variants of the virus this year, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Tuesday in her first parliamentary speech for 2022.Ardern’s warning came as hundreds of protesters gathered outside the parliament building in the capital Wellington, demanding an end to coronavirus restrictions and vaccine mandates. Ardern’s government has enforced some of the toughest pandemic restriction in New Zealand for the last two years, as the government tried to keep the coronavirus out.
But it also angered many who faced endless home isolation, and tens of thousands of expatriate New Zealanders who were cut off from families back home as the borders remained sealed. The measures have also been devastating for businesses dependent on international tourists. Ardern’s approval ratings plummeted in the latest 1News Kantar Public Poll released last month, as the public marked her down for the delays in vaccinations and in removing restrictions. Hundreds of anti-vaccine mandate and anti-government protesters gathered outside the parliament demanding an end to all pandemic restrictions, part of a series of protests undertaken in recent months. The mostly unmasked protesters that converged on Wellington on Tuesday had driven from around the country, and their vehicles clogged the capital’s streets for hours as they got out to meet and speak on parliament’s forecourt. The government said last week that the country will reopen its borders to the rest of the world in phases only by October.Omicron cases in the country have been steadily rising since some of the social distancing measures were eased recently. New Zealand recorded its largest ever one-day case number with 243 cases on Saturday.
Ardern told Radio New Zealand that the country’s Omicron peak could be in March with daily cases ranging between 10,000 to 30,000.

#Covid-19#migrant#migration#nouvellezelande#sante#frontiere#circulation#tourisme#restrictionsanitaire