Malaysia is set to reopen its economic and social sectors almost fully on April 1, allowing fully-vaccinated travellers into the country without requiring them to quarantine and removing operating time limits for businesses, among other relaxation of restrictions imposed during the pandemic.
The Government said the reopening, dubbed “transition to endemicity”, is timely and the result of Malaysia’s relatively high vaccination rate of 78.9 per cent. Although daily new cases might be high, the hospitalisation and severe case rates have gone down.
For the most part, Malaysians and people outside Malaysia are thrilled with the news. Economists and businesses are understandably happy too while doctors are either cautiously optimistic on one hand or gloomy at the development on the other.
Reopening as daily cases reach new highs – new cases hit a record 33,209 on March 4 – may be counterintuitive as noted by consultant paediatrician Dr Musa