He said the decision on whether to open the borders must be looked into carefully as the government has been receiving a lot of feedback on the matter, including public views for more intervention to be done by the government, especially with regards to SOP and rules arising from concerns on Covid-19 transmission.

“Given a choice, we would like to open up the economy, especially since tourism income is huge, which will help the nation but at the same time we need to protect the people… so a balance is what is being sought by the ministry of health.

“We have given the ministry two to three weeks, and they have to present (their proposals) for the Cabinet to decide… whether to fully reopen the borders or with restrictions (involving) selected countries,” he told reporters after attending a family cooperative carnival in Taman Nusantara here today.

The prime minister was responding to a statement yesterday by National Recovery Council chairman Muhyiddin Yassin on the importance of reopening the country’s borders on March 1. Muhyiddin had announced on Feb 8 that the council had agreed for a full reopening of international borders as early as March 1, without the need for mandatory quarantine.