Only travellers from eight African countries are not allowed in under the Langkawi travel bubble, the health ministry said today.

The ministry was clarifying a statement yesterday when it issued a ban on travellers from 26 countries from joining the Langkawi travel bubble. The 26 countries were identified as having reported the Omicron variant.

“Following the latest directive from health minister Khairy Jamaluddin, travellers from countries other than the eight African nations are allowed to participate in the Langkawi international tourism bubble,” said health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in a statement .

“With this declaration, the previous statements are null and void.”

The eight African countries with a high risk of Omicron infection are Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Malawi. Travellers from these countries are not allowed to enter Malaysia for the time being.Noor Hisham said that apart from undergoing an RT-PCR test at least 72 hours before leaving for Malaysia and upon their arrival in the country, travellers using the Langkawi travel bubble also need to take a professionally conducted RTK-Antigen Covid-19 test on their third and fifth days in the country.

He said travellers who are tested in Langkawi on the day of their arrival will be allowed to stay at their hotel, pending their test results. This is to avoid congestion at the Langkawi International Airport.

He added that they will receive their home surveillance orders (HSO) digitally in the MySejahtera app.

Noor Hisham said those from permitted countries who wish to travel to places other than Langkawi will have to undergo mandatory quarantine.

The quarantine period depends on the travellers’ vaccination status – seven days for those who are fully vaccinated, or 10 days for those who are unvaccinated or have yet to be fully vaccinated.

He added that those from high-risk countries and undergoing quarantine at home or their residence will be fitted with a digital tracker.

The health ministry will update the international entry points on these high-risk countries based on risk assessments conducted from time to time, said Noor Hisham.

Malaysia announced its first positive case of the Omicron variant earlier today with Khairy telling a press conference that the case was detected from the sample of a student from South Africa who arrived in the country last month.

He said the case involved a 19-year-old female non-citizen who arrived from South Africa via Singapore on Nov 19 and had undergone a RT-PCR test upon arrival at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).