More healthcare workers in Malaysia were infected with the potentially deadly coronavirus yesterday as troops were preparing to be deployed to assist in enforcing a government order for people to stay home.

Armed Forces chief Affendi Buang strongly denied that military personnel were allowed to use physical force on citizens who disobeyed the restriction of movement order after a WhatsApp message containing a voice clip claiming this went viral.

In the clip, someone is heard urging people to obey the order as troops would not hesitate to assault those refusing to stay at home.

"The public is asked to stop spreading it immediately as this message can lead to speculation and cause panic among people," General Tan Sri Affendi said in a statement.

Several Malaysians have already been arrested for flouting the order, including three members of a tabligh Islamic missionary movement, one of whom is suspected to have attended the tabligh mass gathering last month which has been the source of a high number of Covid-19 infections in the country.

Malaysia recorded 153 new cases and five new deaths as of yesterday, health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah said. This brought the total tally of cases to 1,183 infections with eight deaths.

Out of the new cases, 90 are linked to the tabligh gathering. The latest deaths were three men, aged between 57 and 69, who had also attended the tabligh gathering, and a mother, 79, and her daughter, 40. A total of 19 government healthcare workers and five from the private healthcare sector have tested positive for Covid-19.

Malaysians were warned not to be complacent.

Think-tank Research for Social Advancement shared a chart on its Facebook page comparing the number of cases in Malaysia with Italy, and said that "Malaysia's pattern of recorded cases followed closely to that of Italy in the early days".

"In order to avoid drastic increases in cases, it is important to practise social distancing, stay home, in order to flatten the curve, before it's too late. We must do everything we can to prevent Malaysia going the 'Italian way'."

Italy's death toll surged by 627 over the past 24 hours to 4,032 - reportedly the world's largest daily rise in absolute terms since the contagion emerged a month ago.

Italy has also surpassed China, where the virus originated, in the death toll.