The Malaysia-Indonesia Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) is expected to open early next year, allowing travellers to finally cross the border to our neighbouring country.
So if you’ve been dreaming of a Balinese holiday, your dream may soon come true. Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob previously said in the early stages, the VTL lanes between Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur and Bali could be opened first.
According to The Star, Ambassador of Indonesia to Malaysia Hermono said a team of Indonesian officials visited Malaysia last week to conduct a technical inspection on the proposed VTL. He also said that a number of technical issues need to be addressed because the VTL can officially open.
This includes the interoperability of Malaysia’s MySejahtera and Indonesia’s Peduli Lindungi app, the mutual recognition of vaccines, as well as the standardisation of the RT-PCR COVID-19 test.
If the Malaysia-Indonesia VTL goes ahead, it will be the second country after Singapore to open a travel bubble for Malaysia. Other VTLs are currently being postponed due to the rising threat of the Omicron variant. Malaysia has also banned visitors from a number of high-risk nations such as Malawi, South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, and Zimbabwe.
This is a developing story.
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