Indian high commissioner to Malaysia BN Reddy said travellers to India need only undergo a Covid-19 test at their home country 72 hours prior to departure.

Travellers from low-risk countries will be allowed to leave their destination airport and should self-monitor their health for 14 days upon arrival and follow strict SOPs.

“The Indian government will also be issuing free tourist visas for the first 500,000 foreign visitors to the country, to help kickstart the tourism sector in the republic,” Reddy told Bernama after attending the India Tourism Promotion Event here on Friday.

He added that the IVS Global India Visa Centre in Kuala Lumpur would reopen from Monday and that the interest shown by Malaysians to apply for Indian visas had grown by up to 150% in the last three weeks.

According to Reddy, to date, 96 countries had agreements with India for mutual recognition of vaccination certificates, and that the Indian government was still waiting for positive feedback from Malaysia concerning the matter.

He congratulated the Malaysian government for successfully vaccinating 95% of its adult population.

Reddy also welcomed National Recovery Council chairman Muhyiddin Yassin’s proposal for the country’s borders to be opened to foreigners by Jan 1 at the latest.

“During pre-Covid-19 days, some 700,000 Indian nationals visited Malaysia. Our citizens are among the top 10 inbound tourists to Malaysia and the top five spenders in the country,” he said.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST DATA ON THE COVID-19 SITUATION IN MALAYSIA