KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA — Starting Friday (20 August), fully vaccinated individuals in states under Phase 1 of the National Recovery Plan will be allowed to dine in at restaurants and other eateries, subject to certain conditions.
Caretaker prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin in a statement on Thursday said that for those jabbed with vaccines requiring two doses such as the Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca, and Sinovac vaccines, they will be allowed to dine-in 14 days after receiving their second dose.
For individuals inoculated with vaccines that require only one dose such as the Johnson & Johnson dan CanSino vaccines, they will be permitted to dine-in 28 days after the date of their vaccination, he added.
Couples who are fully vaccinated and wish to bring their children aged 17 and under for dine-in purposes are urged to abide by strict standard operating procedures.
Eatery owners, said Muhyiddin, must ensure that those entering their premises for dine-in services will present the digital certificate confirming that they have completed their full course of vaccination.
“I would like to suggest eatery operators to provide more outdoor dining spaces for better ventilation. The risk of spreading COVID-19 indoors is higher than outside,” he said.
Muhyiddin’s announcement came the same day the country hit its new daily high of new COVID-19 cases at 22,948 on Thursday.
Thursday is the seventh day Malaysia has reached over 20,000 daily cases, despite efforts to boost the speed of vaccination rollout.
States in Phase 1 of the National Recovery Plan include the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka, Kedah, and Johor.
On Thursday, Selangor recorded 7,175 new infections — the highest among all states — while Kuala Lumpur recorded 1,439 new cases.
Kedah, Johor, Melaka, and Negeri Sembilan recorded 2,137, 1,526, 737, and 556 cases respectively.