In a tweet, he said this was due to the threat from the new Omicron Covid-19 variant.

“Due to the latest development on the Omicron variant reported in Singapore, the sales of VTL air and land tickets will be temporarily suspended effective from Dec 23.”

He added that those who had already bought tickets could still proceed with their journey.

According to Khairy, the Singaporean health ministry had detected a local cluster involving three positive cases.

Upon further tests, two were potentially of the Omicron variant while the result of the third case is still pending.

Khairy’s comments follow on the heels of an announcement by the Singapore government earlier today that it will freeze all new ticket sales for flights and buses under the VTL programme from Dec 23 to Jan 20.

It was previously reported that 50% more bus tickets for travel between Johor Bahru and Singapore would be on sale from Dec 20 onwards but with the Omicron variant now detected, measures are being taken to minimise the spread.

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