Malaysia to tighten Covid screening for all arrivals, PM says

MALAYSIA will tighten screening rules for all foreign arrivals, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said, amid concerns about the rampant Covid outbreak in China. “We are going to tighten screening but we won’t discriminate against any country,” he said at a post-Cabinet briefing on Wednesday (Jan 4). The government will prioritise peoples’ health over the economy, he said. Malaysia joins several countries in tightening measures for travellers amid fears that the return of travellers from China could spark a Covid resurgence in their own populations. Last week, Malaysia’s Health Minister Zaliha Mustafa said that the country will test wastewater samples from all flights arriving from China for Covid-19. Pre-pandemic, China was the third largest country in terms of tourist arrivals in Malaysia. About 3.1 million Chinese tourists visited Malaysia in 2019, from the overall 26.1 million arrivals, according to data from Tourism Malaysia. BLOOMBERG