Malaysia will begin another nationwide “total lockdown” from June as coronavirus infections in the country surged to record levels, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has announced.
This is followed by the 8,290 new coronavirus cases announced on Friday, its fourth straight day of record infections, bringing its total to 549,514. The number of daily fatalities has also reached records, with 63 earlier this week.
Malaysia reported 61 deaths on Friday, taking its total to 2,552.
Officials blame infectious variants for the surge, in addition to the failure to observe social distancing in the Muslim-majority country during the holy month of Ramadan and the Eid al-Fitr holiday earlier this month.
The PM explained that the stricter lockdown from June 1 to 14 was for all social and economic areas, and that only essential services and economic sectors would remain in operation, which would be listed by the national security council.
“With the latest rise in daily cases showing a drastically upward trend, hospital capacity across the country to treat COVID-19 patients are becoming limited,” Muhyiddin said in a statement on Friday.
The PM added that the finance ministry will announce a relief package for individuals and economic sectors.
Nevertheless, outbreak has increased rapidly in recent weeks, and the numbers of patients in intensive care and on ventilators have hit record highs.
The country has already rolled out more than 300 billion ringgit ($72.6bn) of stimulus packages since last year to cushion the effect of the pandemic on the economy.
The country’s economy was on the path to recovery in the first quarter before infections began to spike.
