Malaysia’s prime minister announced Friday a near-total COVID 19 lockdown, limiting social and economic activities halted for two weeks to contain the growing number of cases.
Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said the decision to implement the lockdown starting June 1 came after new infections breached 8,000 on Friday for the first time, sparking fears the disease could spiral out of control.
The government earlier this month imposed a partial lockdown until June 7, stopping short of shutting down businesses to prevent a possible economic catastrophe. But new infections have climbed since the recent Muslim Eid festival, crossing 6,000 on May 19 for the first time and soaring to 8,290 on Friday.
The total cases are now up to 549,514. The health ministry also reported another 61 deaths Friday, pushing the tally to 2,552 -close to 40% recorded this month alone. Malaysia’s total cases and deaths have jumped nearly five-fold compared to all of last year.
Muhyiddin said in a statement that all non-essential business activities would be shut down between June 1-14 in the first phase of the lockdown.
If daily cases fall, lockdowns may be eased in the second phase, allowing some economic sectors to reopen, the phase lasting for four weeks. After that, the country is expected to reopen businesses but not social services, as it is currently doing.
Muhyiddin vowed that the government will boost the healthcare system to make sure it doesn’t collapse and ramp up vaccinations.
The recent outbreak is partially blamed on gatherings during the Eid festival, where Senior Minister Ismail Sabri said many ethnic Malay Muslims violated COVID-19 safety rules that banned them from visiting each other during the Eid festival.