More than 3,100 cases of COVID-19 have been caused by interstate travels since January this year, with Kedah leading the list with such cases.

According to Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, clusters triggered by cross-border travel has also increased since the third wave of COVID-19 cases hit the country in Sept 20 last year.

From Jan 1 to March 21, the country has recorded 3,170 COVID-19 cases caused by people travelling across state borders, with Kedah leading the list with 714 cases, followed by Perak with 582 cases, and Negeri Sembilan with 370 cases, The Star quoted him saying in a statement yesterday.

Noor Hisham further noted that the interstate travel ban imposed when the second Movement Control Order (MCO 2.0) was enforced on Jan 13, had contributed to the drop in new daily cases of the coronavirus.

Regardless, he urged Malaysians to continue adhering to the standard operating procedures (SOPs) in place to break the chain of COVID-19 transmission.

Those who have to cross state borders for important matters can do by getting permission from the police, and for tourism purposes, by going through a travel agency registered under the Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry for those going from a to an area under the Recovery MCO, he pointed out.

Yesterday, 1,327 new COVID-19 cases and four deaths were recorded, bringing the total number of infections and deaths in the country to 333,040, and 1,233, respectively.

Globally, the coronavirus has infected more than 123 million people and killed over 2.72 million.


Source: The Star
Photo source: Rojakdaily