Malaysia on Saturday detailed further restrictions on movements to contain a record surge in COVID cases. Businesses will only be allowed to operate from 8 a.m until 8 p.m. daily from May 25, Defense Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob told a briefing. About 80% of government officers and 40% of private sector employees will work from home, with the move affecting 7 million to 8 million workers. High-risk places will be shut immediately and usage of public transportation will be limited to 50% capacity, Ismail said. The Trade Ministry will announce further guidelines for the economy, he added. The moves are an attempt by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to tamp down new infections without derailing the nascent economic recovery by imposing a nationwide lockdown. Malaysia s economy lost about 700 million ringgit ($169 million) a day when only essential sectors were allowed to operate in January.
Published: 11 May 2021
Additionally, the Malaysia-Singapore Green Lane Reciprocal Scheme (RGL) will be suspended temporarily, starting 13 May 2021.
Malaysia’s Health Director-General Noor Hisham Abdullah, on 10 May, announced that travellers entering Malaysia from Singapore, under the two nations’ Periodic Commuting Arrangement (PCA), must undergo a compulsory 14-day quarantine at its government-approved facilities with effect from Thursday (May 13).
This is an update to its previously implemented guidelines that required incoming PCA travellers to serve a seven-day Home Surveillance Order and undergo a COVID-19 test.
Apart from the new quarantine measures, the Malaysia-Singapore Green Lane Reciprocal Scheme (RGL) will also be suspended temporarily, starting 13 May 2021. With that, Singaporeans looking to enter Malaysia for business purposes must thus use the One Stop Center (OSC) channel provided by the Malaysian Development Authority (MIDA).
S. Mahfuz/BenarNews
Malaysia announced a month-long nationwide COVID-19 lockdown, starting Wednesday – the eve of Eid al-Fitr – amid a coronavirus surge that Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said “could trigger a national crisis,” as virus-related deaths hit a record high over the weekend.
Portions of the lockdown announced by the PM on Monday took effect right after he chaired a special meeting of the National Security Council. Travel restriction and bans on social activities kicked in two days ahead of the nationwide ban.
“With daily cases exceeding 4,000 cases, and with 37,396 active cases and 1,700 deaths as of May 10, Malaysia is facing a third wave that could trigger a national crisis,” Muhyiddin said in a statement.
[BenarNews/S.Mahfuz]
The highly contagious “Indian variant” of the coronavirus has reached the shores of Malaysia and Indonesia, health officials said Monday.
Malaysian hospitals, meanwhile, are dangerously close to running out of beds for COVID-19 patients, with the country recording 60,000 new infections since early April, the Health Department chief said.
“We have detected one case of the [Indian] variant at our international gateway, and so far, we had only seen variants from South Africa and the U.K.,” Malaysian Health Minister Adham Baba said.
Making matters worse is a rise in infections from the other two highly contagious strains.