KUALA LUMPUR, May 17 — Malaysians with Permanent Resident (PR) status overseas are not allowed to re-enter Malaysia until the expiration of the conditional movement order (CMCO) after choosing to leave the country in the first place.

Ismail Sabri was asked to elaborate on the procedure for Malaysians holding PR status overseas who chose to return to their country of issuance. 

"If they want to return to the country that issued them the PR, they can but we will not allow them to return home until the CMCO currently enforced here expires. 

"So it is a one-way trip, no returning until CMCO finishes. That is the procedure,” he said in a press conference here.

For Malaysians returning home, the government has enforced a compulsory two-week quarantine starting March just before the local Covid-19 outbreak exploded, as part of efforts to tighten border security and contain the deadly coronavirus.

The government has also barred all non-Malaysians from travelling into the country.

Earlier, Ismail Sabri disclosed that a total of 655 Malaysians returned home and were subsequently quarantined yesterday.

To date, he said 36,900 Malaysians have undergone mandatory quarantine since April 3, with 28,984 of them allowed to return home after completing the process.