Deadliest week in Malaysia as lockdown looms

Malaysia's deadliest week from the coronavirus saw it hit another grim record yesterday, breaking new highs for infections and deaths, both on the same day.

The country logged 9,020 new infections and 98 deaths in the last 24 hours, eclipsing the previous record of 8,290 infections and 63 deaths set on Friday and Wednesday respectively. Infections had surged above 7,000 for the first time last Tuesday.

The unwanted records were reached a day after Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced that the entire country will be placed under a two-week "total lockdown" from Tuesday as many Malaysian hospitals are running out of critical care wards for Covid-19 patients.

Health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah warned yesterday of darker days ahead should the current Covid-19 trajectory continue: New cases could jump to 13,000 a day by the middle of next month, just two weeks from now.

"Help us save the national healthcare system, which is about to be paralysed if the increase in cases is not controlled," he said in a Facebook post yesterday.

Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham yesterday repeated his call for Malaysians to stay at home, citing concern over the traffic volume caused by those trying to leave the Klang Valley, which consists of much of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, to southern and east-coast states.

Business groups, meanwhile, have been trying to get details on whether, and how, they will be affected by the new lockdown. But the government did not release any lists yesterday on what constitutes the "essential economic sector" that Tan Sri Muhyiddin said will be allowed to continue operating.

The government has also yet to announce a fresh financial package to aid vulnerable groups such as the poor and daily-wage labourers. Mr Muhyiddin has said a new fiscal package will be announced.

Malaysia's biggest opposition group, the Democratic Action Party, yesterday called on the government to introduce a comprehensive fiscal relief package to help vulnerable groups who will be adversely affected by the lockdown.

The lockdown is the third iteration of the movement control order (MCO) announced by Mr Muhyiddin since the Covid-19 outbreak emerged in January last year.

The third total lockdown, dubbed MCO 3.0, is expected to resemble Malaysia's first lockdown between March and May last year, which saw the government providing a blanket loan moratorium for six months to all Malaysians, wage subsidies for employers, and various other cash aid for low-income individuals and families, including those who lost jobs.

Calls for a total lockdown had been circulating in Malaysia for weeks, including from Johor's Sultan Ibrahim Ismail, who called for a "targeted full lockdown", meaning shutting down smaller areas with high infections. "For example, the southern zones of Johor, Melaka and Negeri Sembilan can be put on 'full lockdown' for two weeks, followed by other zones such as the east coast (Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan)."

States that are not on lockdown, he said, can resume economic activities. "By doing this, we are dealing with a number of cases without affecting the country's economic activities as a whole," Sultan Ibrahim told the Johor Royal Press Office on Friday.

Former premier Mahathir Mohamad had also recently urged the government to implement a full lockdown. While he acknowledged that a lockdown will hurt the economy, Tun Dr Mahathir said it was better than losing lives to Covid-19.

The Domestic Trade and Consumerism Ministry yesterday urged Malaysians not to crowd supermarkets and hypermarkets ahead of the lockdown, as the country has sufficient essential food supplies.