Malaysia PM to announce new COVID-19 measures as deaths hit daily record

[rooster59]

Malaysia PM to announce new COVID-19 measures as deaths hit daily record

 

Malaysia's Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin gestures during virtual APEC Economic Leaders Meeting 2020, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia November 20, 2020. REUTERS/Lim Huey Teng/Files

 

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin will announce new measures next week to curb a surge in coronavirus cases, a senior minister said on Friday, as the country reported its highest daily number of deaths linked to the epidemic.

 

The Southeast Asian nation has seen a spike in infections since September, with the number of daily reported cases climbing to record highs on two days this week.

 

Friday's death toll of 16 took total COVID-19 fatalities to 537. The health ministry also reported 2,643 new infections, raising the total number of cases to 131,108.

 

The government has said it was considering imposing targeted lockdowns in some areas, though businesses warned that wider restrictions could further batter the economy.

 

Muhyiddin will announce new measures to tackle the virus surge on Monday, security minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob told reporters.

 

"We are refining and looking at the new measures in detail to ensure that they work for everyone," he said during a televised news conference.

 

Separately, science minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the country's pharmaceutical regulator has issued a conditional approval for the vaccine manufactured by U.S. and German drugmakers Pfizer and BioNTech to be used in Malaysia.

 

"We are still waiting for a few additional info from Pfizer but this means it can be used in Malaysia," Khairy posted on his Twitter account.

 

Malaysia, which has purchased 12.8 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech shot, is expected to receive its first shipment of the vaccine next month.

 

(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Editing by Martin Petty)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2021-01-09

 

- Whatever you're going through, the Samaritans are here for you

- Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking COVID-19 updates

[daveAustin]

These figures are likely on par with, or a lot less than, the dubious not so transparent northerly neighbour which tends to subscribe to the methodology of bbbrains.

[spidermike007]

Though many on here will argue that Thailand is hiding the real numbers, no effort seems to have been made when it came to the recent outbreak in Samut. So, I wonder how is it that our southern neighbor has had some a bad time with this. They have 470 more deaths, and over 120,000 more cases. Is it the fact that they refused to close the Mosques? The diet? Or something else? 

[Selatan]

2 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Though many on here will argue that Thailand is hiding the real numbers, no effort seems to have been made when it came to the recent outbreak in Samut. So, I wonder how is it that our southern neighbor has had some a bad time with this. They have 470 more deaths, and over 120,000 more cases. Is it the fact that they refused to close the Mosques? The diet? Or something else? 

Politics, or more precisely, the Westminster system is the reason why Malaysia failed to contain the spread of the disease.

The First Wave happened during the time when some MPs switched to another party which led to the fall of the federal government. 

The Second Wave happened during the time when some state assemblymen switched to another party which led to the fall of the Sabah state government.

The current federal ruling coalition has only one seat majority in parliament, so it may fall at any time if some MPs were bribed to switch over to the other side.

To me, the Westminster system is a stupid system of government. Voting has no meaning if elected reps could easily switch to another party or if a party could easily switch to a different coalition.

[gamini]

3 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Though many on here will argue that Thailand is hiding the real numbers, no effort seems to have been made when it came to the recent outbreak in Samut. So, I wonder how is it that our southern neighbor has had some a bad time with this. They have 470 more deaths, and over 120,000 more cases. Is it the fact that they refused to close the Mosques? The diet? Or something else? 

The many on here who claimed that Thailand was hiding the real numbers were nothing else but Thai bashers. Thailand has done much better to contain the virus than any European country by far. But they hate to admit it

[spidermike007]

5 minutes ago, gamini said:

The many on here who claimed that Thailand was hiding the real numbers were nothing else but Thai bashers. Thailand has done much better to contain the virus than any European country by far. But they hate to admit it

 

It certainly appears to be the case. And those who were insisting that there were thousands of infected people running around the past 6 months look quite foolish. 

 

Hard to reason with a believer in the coming Zombie Apocalypse.