PETALING JAYA: Umrah pilgrims have the option to undergo quarantine in private centres or those provided by the government, says Datuk Dr Abd Latiff Ahmad.

       The Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Special Duties) said there were umrah pilgrims who were worried about the additional cost of undergoing quarantine.

       “Umrah pilgrims have the option of either dealing directly with private quarantine centres in hotels listed by the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) or government-provided centres.

       “For government-managed quarantine placements, pilgrims who are Patients Under Surveillance (PUS) and are negative for Covid-19 after tests by the Health Ministry will be placed in hotels or public training centres, depending on the availability of rooms on the day of arrival.

       “For this option, the cost of the quarantine is borne by the government including food, drinks and transportation from the airport.

       “The quarantine period is set by the Health Ministry,” he said in a statement on Tuesday (Jan 4).

       There are 10 hotels which serve as quarantine centres for pilgrims in Kuala Lumpur and eight in Selangor.

       The hotels in Kuala Lumpur are Royal Hotel; Swiss Garden Hotel in Bukit Bintang; Ibis Hotel in Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre (KLCC); Furama Hotel in Bukit Bintang; Mercure Hotel, Kuala Lumpur Shaw Parade; Ibis Style KL Fraser Business Park; AnCasa Hotel; Cosmo Hotel; KIP Hotel and Arena Star Hotel.

       The hotels in Selangor include Sama-Sama Hotel; Grand Dorsett Hotel in Subang; Crystal Crown Hotel in Petaling Jaya; Sunway Clio Hotel; Hilton Garden Inn Hotel in Puchong; Oriental Crystal Hotel; Summit Hotel in USJ and Pegasus Hotel in Shah Alam.

       The quarantine centres at public training institutes include the Higher Education Leadership Academy (Akept) in Nilai; Institut Aminuddin Baki (IAB) in Nilai; Institut Latihan Islam Malaysia (Ilim) in Bangi, Institut Semarak Felda (Isef) in Bangi, Judicial and Legal Training Institute (Ilkap), Malaysian Police Training Centre (Pulapol) and QS Hotel.

       On Jan 1, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said umrah trips to Saudi Arabia would be suspended from Jan 8 following a surge in Covid-19 cases among returnees and concerns over the highly infectious Omicron variant. Those returning from umrah to Malaysia will also have to serve their quarantine at designated stations or hotels earmarked by Nadma from Jan 3.

       He said those who had already made arrangements to go for umrah, including those who had paid for their packages, would be refunded or have their travel rescheduled.

       Half of the 64 confirmed Omicron cases in Malaysia have so far come from umrah pilgrims, with more possible as the Health Ministry is awaiting test results from 966 samples of presumptive Omicron infections, of which 750 or 77.6% cases involve travellers arriving from Saudi Arabia.

       Pilgrims departing for Saudi Arabia between Jan 1 and 7, said Khairy, were allowed to proceed but would have to undergo quarantine at Nadma-designated stations or hotels upon returning home to Malaysia.

       He said Nadma was making arrangements to provide suitable and comfortable quarantine centres for those returning from umrah.

       As at Dec 30, the Health Ministry had detected nine clusters involving umrah pilgrims.