PETALING JAYA: Health minister Khairy Jamaluddin’s advisor Dimishtra Steven Sittampalam said passengers arriving in Malaysia are still required to take RTK-Ag tests within 24 hours of arrival, even though they have taken RT-PCR tests two days before departure.

He told Sin Chew Daily this is to ensure they have not been infected with COVID-19, because there have been instances of passengers testing negative before departure but testing positive upon arrival in Malaysia.

In retweeting the minister’s tweet this morning, Dimishtra said the health ministry is working closely with the tourism ministry to gradually relax the SOPs and requirements for tourists visiting the country.

Among the parameters under observation include the positivity rate of arriving passengers, vaccination rate of passengers requiring medical services and any new mutant variants of the virus.