Malaysia's leader says state borders will be reopened after a months-long COVID-19 travel ban while the number of new coronavirus-linked deaths hit a record high in Russia at the weekend.
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With more than 90 per cent of Malaysia's adults now fully vaccinated, Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said a ban on interstate travel will be lifted from Monday.
He says fully vaccinated Malaysians can now travel to other states for holidays and return to their hometown.
Ismail said Malaysians are also now free to travel abroad without requiring approval but they still need to undergo virus tests and quarantine upon return.
He said in a televised broadcast on Sunday that the government is still assessing the situation to decide whether it is safe to reopen the country's borders to foreigners.
Russia's government's coronavirus task force said that on Saturday 968 people had died of COVID-19 in the previous 24 hours, the most since the pandemic began.
Sunday's toll was only a shade lower at 962.
The number of new infections each day has been hovering slightly below 30,000 cases.
Russian authorities believe the main reason for the high number of deaths and infections is the population's unwillingness to be vaccinated.
Foreign vaccines that have wide international distribution, such as those from Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, have not been approved in Russia.
The Russian leadership insists that people get the vaccine Sputnik V, which was developed by Moscow researchers, or another one of the jabs produced in the country.
Sputnik V is recognised as a vaccine by about 70 countries but not by the European Union and the United States.
with DPA
Australian Associated Press
