Kuala Lumpur (VNA) – Malaysia will loosen some social distancing measures for people fully vaccinated against COVID-19 from August 21 as 50 percent of adults in the Southeast Asian country have completed vaccination.

The decision was made during a meeting of the Special National Security Council (MKN) chaired by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on August 20. The meeting aimed to consider proposals by the MKN Special Technical Committee to ease more restrictions, especially for Phase One states of the country’s recovery plan.

However, Muhyiddin Yassin clarified that people will enjoy eased measures 14 days after receiving the second shot of vaccines that require two shots like Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Sinovac. Meanwhile, people who are injected with vaccines that need only one dose like Johnson&Johnson and CanSino will need 28 days.

Outdoor sport activities will be allowed but only within the same district from 6am to 10pm. At the same time, restaurants can serve customers right at the site.

Meanwhile in Singapore, Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said that the country is likely to stick to its mask mandate for some more time as the city-state cautiously reopens its borders and eases its COVID-19 restrictions.

Masks have been compulsory since April last year in Singapore, which has been among the most successful countries in containing coronavirus outbreaks

Singapore has vaccinated more than three-quarters of its 5.7 million population.

Balakrishnan also said the government would continue using coronavirus contact-tracing technology when the pandemic was over.

The country plans to complete COVID-19 vaccination for 80 percent of its population in September./.
VNA