JOHOR BARU: All air and land transport operators will be instructed to adapt accordingly to the latest announcement on the suspension of the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL), says Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong (pic).

       The Transport Minister said his Singaporean counterpart S. Iswaran had contacted him Tuesday (Dec 21) to formally inform him of the island republic’s decision to impose limits on the number of VTL arrivals temporarily.

       “This is due to the prevailing Covid-19 situation there.

       “Do note that all travellers who already hold flight or bus tickets for VTL and have met the VTL requirements can continue to travel under the lane.

       “We will continue to work closely with the Singapore Ministry of Transport as partners to look after the development and sustainability of transport links between Malaysia and Singapore,” Dr Wee said in a Facebook post on Wednesday (Dec 22).

       He also shared a press release to inform more Malaysians on Singapore’s decision, which can be found here.

       Dr Wee said air and land transport operators would also be instructed to monitor developments closely.

       He reminded all passengers to strictly adhere to all the health protocols as stipulated by both governments for safer travel for all.

       The sale of bus and air tickets to Singapore under the VTL has been suspended effective Dec 23 until Jan 20 following the island republic’s decision to freeze cross-border travel due to the rising number of imported Covid-19 cases.

       On Dec 20, the Singapore Health Ministry issued a statement regarding a local Covid-19 cluster involving three positive cases.

       Further tests showed two of them might have the Omicron variant while the result for the other case was still pending.

       All three did not have any history of overseas travel.

       On Wednesday, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said ticket sales from Malaysia to Singapore under the VTL would also be suspended for the same time period.