Hanoi (VNA) – Singapore and Malaysia onNovember 29 reopened their shared land borders, allowing vaccinated travellersto cross after nearly two years of being shut down due to the COVID-19pandemic.

Malaysian Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob is making hisfirst official visit to Singapore as premier the same day. As part of hisvisit, Ismail will witness the launch of the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL)between Singapore and Malaysia together with Singaporean Prime Minister LeeHsien Loong.

The much-anticipated land VTL will allow up to 1,440 travellersfrom each side to cross the land border each day without quarantine, if theyhold citizenship, permanent residency or long-term visas in the destinationcountry.

However, travellers must test negative for COVID-19 beforedeparture, and Malaysia also requires travellers to get an on-arrival test, amove Singapore followed on November 28 over concerns over the Omicron variant.

As many as 300,000 Malaysians commuted daily to Singaporebefore the pandemic.

The sudden closing of the border in March 2020 left tens ofthousands stranded on both sides, separated from families and fearing for theirjobs.

Singapore has vaccinated 85 percent of its entire population,while about 80 percent of Malaysia's population has been inoculated.

Meanwhile, Indonesia has banned the entry of travellers who have beenin ten African countries and Hong Kong (China) in two weeks to curb the spreadof the new coronavirus variant Omicron.

The ten African countries include South Africa, Botswana,Namibia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, Eswatini, Malawi, Angola and Zambia.The restriction will be evaluated every two weeks.

The policy takes effect on November 29, said CoordinatingMinister for Maritime Affairs of Indonesia Luhut Pandjaitan, adding thatIndonesian citizens entering Indonesia from the listed African countries andHong Kong will also now have to quarantine in designated facilities for 14days./.