KUALA LUMPUR - Putrajaya will waive the 14-day quarantine for returning Malaysians who work in Singapore as long as they pass a swab test for the coronavirus, Malaysiakini reported on Saturday (April 4).

The government said Malaysians returning from Singapore should be tested in Singapore and then present the test certificate at the entry point in Malaysia.

Malaysia is preparing for coronavirus infections to peak in the middle of this month, Bloomberg reported. The authorities have been heartened to see no spike in cases of the disease known as Covid-19 and expect infections to peak in mid-April in line with World Health Organisation's estimate, Director-General of Health Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a televised briefing.

The country reported 150 new cases on Saturday to bring the overall tally to 3,483, the most in South-east Asia, with 57 deaths.

The government imposed nationwide restrictions on movement and ordered schools and some shops to close since March 18 in a bid to contain the pandemic. The initial two-week control order was extended to April 14 as the authorities added more stringent restrictions along the way.

Malaysia has sought to model itself after South Korea with active testing on communities found to have dozens of confirmed cases, Datuk Seri Noor Hisham said. The country has tested nearly 50,000 people in a population of 32 million, he added.