People have a picnic on Cenang beach on Tuesday as Langkawi gets ready to open to domestic tourists from Thursday. Langkawi, a cluster of 99 islands in the Straits of Malacca, will reopen from Thursday to fully vaccinated travellers as part of a domestic tourism bubble, with strict protocols in place to thwart the spread of the coronavirus. The plan is similar to that introduced in Thailand, which started with the July reopening of Phuket, 220 kilomoetres north of Langkawi, to vaccinated foreign tourists. What is important is that we can control the tourists to ensure their compliance," said Tuan Nasaruddin Abdul Muttalib, head of the Langkawi development authority. Malaysia has recorded 2 million coronavirus cases overall among its 32 million population, one of Asia's highest per-capita infection rates, with more than 20,000 deaths.

Source: Bangkok Post September 15, 2021 01:52 UTC