COVID-19: Malaysian Government Implements Total Lockdown June 1-14

KUALA LUMPUR, May 28 (Bernama) -- The special session of the National Security Council (MKN) on Covid-19 management has decided to implement a total lockdown on Malaysia’s social and economic sectors (first phase) nationwide for 14 days beginning June 1. The Malaysian Prime Minister’s Office, in a statement, said throughout this period, all sectors will not be allowed to operate, except for essential economic and service sectors to be listed by MKN. “The decision was reached after taking into account the latest COVID-19 situation in Malaysia, with daily cases exceeding 8,000 and over 70,000 active cases,” the statement read. “To date, a total of 2,552 people have died as a result of this pandemic and the number of deaths is increasing. The existence of new, more aggressive variants with high and rapid infectivity rates also influenced today's decision,” the statement said. The MKN special session was chaired by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on Friday evening. The statement also said that with the increase in daily cases showing a sharp upward trend recently, the capacity of hospitals nationwide to treat COVID-19 patients has become increasingly limited. The government will also implement a second phase lockdown, allowing the reopening of some economic sectors that do not involve large gatherings and that can comply with physical distancing, if the first phase succeeds in reducing COVID-19 daily cases. This second phase will be enforced for a period of four weeks after the first phase ends. -- BERNAMA