PUTRAJAYA, Jan 10 — The National Recovery Council (MPN) today recommended that the Ministry of Health (MOH) and Home Ministry (KDN) begin talks to study, plan and propose measures to the council for the immediate and safe reopening of the country’s borders.

MPN chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the council was of the view that the opening of the country’s borders was one of the important measures that would support the country’s recovery process.

"The MPN is of the view that without proper plans and the closure of the borders for an undisclosed period will have an effect on whether the country’s recovery process is fast or slow,” he told a media conference after chairing the MPN meeting here today.

According to Muhyiddin, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin had given a briefing at today’s MPN meeting regarding the infection trend of the Omicron variant as well as initiatives, including tightening border controls that are being implemented to ensure the Omicron transmission does not adversely affect the country.

Muhyiddin said the MPN recommended that a committee be formed between the ministries involved to propose measures to reopen the country’s borders to the council, namely "when and how it can be opened in stages”.

The MPN also recommended that the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) make preliminary plans for the annual occurrence of floods, with pre-flood preparations and post-flood recovery measures.

He said it was also proposed that Nadma, the Meteorological Department and the Ministry of Environment and Water be more proactive in looking at the use of new technologies to tackle the issue of environmental disasters.

Muhyiddin said the MPN also recommended that the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Industries together with the Human Resources Ministry refine measures to tackle the acute shortage of manpower for the deep-sea fisheries sector.

He added that the problem had caused a reduction in the number of fish landings and disrupted the supply of fish in the market, thus affecting the recovery in the fisheries sector. — Bernama