Malaysia News Gazette

About 30 per cent of frontline workers in the tourism sector have been vaccinated against COVID-19 so far, said Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri.

She said the ministry was doing its best to gather information on the vaccination level of industry players in tourist hotspots throughout the country.

“We are in the process of collecting their names, including those who have registered in MySejahtera, so that they can be vaccinated soon. They include those in Melaka, Penang, Johor, Sabah, Kuala Lumpur and Pahang, especially frontliners in the tourism, craft and arts sectors.

“Even though they have registered in MySejahtera, we will try to help speed up and double the number of those vaccinated,” she told reporters at a vaccination programme in the island resort under the COVID-19 Free Destination Programme initiative here today.

Nancy said tourism frontliners such as taxi drivers and hotel workers needed to be vaccinated as a preparation to welcome back tourists.

“We (ministry) are helping to double up the number of vaccinated people, including tourism frontliners, as no state has yet reached 40 to 50 per cent (vaccination rate),” she said.

Meanwhile, Nancy in a statement said Pulau Pangkor is expected to achieve 80 per cent herd immunity by early September.

“In Pulau Pangkor, a total of 8,026 residents are eligible to receive the vaccine from a total population of 11,500. Some 1,056 people have completed both doses while 1,002 people have received their first dose since July 11 and a total of 5,968 people have not received the vaccine yet,” she said.

Nancy said the Manjung Health Office (PKD) had started an outreach programme three days a week for eight consecutive weeks from July 16 with a target of vaccinating 540 people a day.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

— Almost half of the 631 positive COVID-19 cases recorded in Melaka yesterday involved the Lot 11 Tangga Batu Industrial Cluster, which had 312 cases.

State Health and Anti-Drugs Committee chairman Datuk Rahmad Mariman said the cluster involved an electronics manufacturing plant in Tangga Batu here, with 467 positive COVID-19 cases recorded under the cluster since it was first detected on July 13.

“Of the total, 458 are foreign workers.

“The factory, which was ordered to close for 14 days from July 16 to 28, has 1,550 employees comprising 609 foreigners and 941 locals,” he said.

He said this after visiting the Common Vaccine Administration Centre (PPV) of the Public-Private Partnership Covid-19 Industrial Immunisation Programme (Pikas) at the Bayou Convention Center here today.

He was part of the delegation which visied the centre with the Yang Dipertua Negeri of Melaka Tun Mohd Ali Rustam. Deputy Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Lim Ban Hong was also present.

Rahmad said the spread of infection among the workers, especially foreigners, was due to the workers living in the same settlement in Taman Cheng Emas.

Meanwhile, he said several new clusters were expected in the state in the next few weeks due to the relatively high rate of COVID-19 cases recently, but various initiatives and strict monitoring were being carried out by the state government to manage the situation.

“A new cluster is only declared as one when it dramatically records over 20 COVID-19 positive cases,” he added.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

— The communications and multimedia industry (C&M) remains sustainable despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, as the rise in online transactions as well as online learning and work-from-home activities boosted demand for its services.

In its Industry Performance Report (IPR) 2020, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said the C&M industry contributed 7.9 per cent or RM142.96 billion to Bursa Malaysia’s total market capitalisation of RM1.81 trillion in 2020.

“Nevertheless, market capitalisation (cap) of the C&M industry declined by 0.7 per cent in 2020 compared to 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which resulted in disruptions in demand as well as the emergence of several new trends,” it said in a statement today.

MCMC said the adverse effects of the pandemic on the industry were cushioned by the launch of the National Digital Infrastructure Plan (JENDELA) in August last year, which aimed to improve the nation’s digital infrastructure and connectivity.

It said last year, the telecommunications sector’s market cap had increased by 0.3 per cent to RM134.42 billion.

During the same period, the postal and courier sector’s market cap also recorded impressive growth, rising by 19.9 per cent to RM3.25 billion.

“On the other hand, the broadcasting sector continues to face pressure in 2020 due to the more cautious attitude of advertisers during the pandemic period as well as the cancellation of several major sporting events such as the Tokyo Olympics and the UEFA Europa League.

“Competition among Over the Top (OTT) players also affected the sector, and these factors saw the sector’s market cap declining by 27.4 per cent to RM5.29 billion in 2020,” it said.

Meanwhile, Pay TV subscriptions increased by 3.1 per cent to 7.34 million in 2020 from 7.12 million subscriptions in 2019, as a result of increased subscriptions to Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) services.

The full report is available at https://www.mcmc.gov.my/skmmgovmy/media/General/pdf/MCMC-IPR_2020.pdf.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MOTAC) is in the midst of proposing to the National Security Council (NSC) to reactivate tourism activities in phases.

The proposal entails four tiers with Tier 1 allowing intra-district travel and tourism activities within the district, Tier 2 allowing inter-district travel and tourism, Tier 3 (inter-state travel and tourism) and Tier 4 (international travel/ inbound tourists).

MOTAC in a statement today on its efforts to assist the tourism sector affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, said it had also implemented several initiatives to help ease the burden of the tourism industry.

These include relaxation of compound matters under the Tourism Industry Act 1992 (Act 482) such as a compound payment discount of 40 per cent to all tour operators and licensed tour guides compounded by MOTAC before Dec 30, 2021.

Another initiative is licence fee exemption for tour operators and tourist guides licensed under Act 482 and relaxation of license requirements for tour operators such as rental of business premises by co-sharing office space until Dec 31, 2021.

MOTAC said it had also prepared a framework to revive the tourism sector in three phases in line with the National Recovery Plan to help the government speed up the vaccination programme and subsequently make the COVID-19 Free Destination Programme a success.

For the first phase, it said Langkawi and Kuching had been selected as pilot travel destinations for the COVID-19 Free Destination Programme.

For the second phase, the programme will be expanded to other popular resort islands such as Redang, Perhentian, Pangkor and Tioman as well as other main attractions in various states such as Johor, Melaka, Penang and Sabah while the third phase involves other main destinations.

“Hence, the programme includes efforts to increase the capacity in vaccinating the local population,” it said, adding that MOTAC was working closely with the COVID-19 Immunisation Task Force to utilise the existing public vaccination centres (PPV) to accelerate the vaccination programme for the tourism frontliners.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency