PUTRAJAYA - Malaysia's biggest political party, Umno, has postponed all its annual divisional meetings as a safety precaution after Covid-19 cases spiked in the country in recent weeks.

Umno secretary-general Ahmad Maslan said the postponed meetings of its 191 divisions included those for its three wings, Women, Youth and Puteri (Young Women).

"Party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi has instructed me to call for a postponement of all Women, Youth, Puteri and divisional meetings," he said on Thursday (Oct 1), as quoted by The Star online news. "The postponement is with immediate effect."

The Umno divisional meetings are held annually to hear the concerns of its grassroots ahead of the grand annual assembly in Kuala Lumpur.

Umno's division meetings were to have been held from Sept 15 to Oct 31, while the party's state conventions were initially scheduled for November.

The Umno general assembly was to be held between Nov 25 and 28. The Star said.

Umno says it has more than three millions members, making it the biggest political party in Malaysia, followed by Parti Islam SeMalaysia, with one million members.

Malaysia on Thursday reported 260 new coronavirus cases, its biggest daily spike in infections since June 4.

The surge in cases was partly caused by hundreds of election campaigners who returned to their home states from the Sabah state polls that were held on Saturday (Sept 26).

Malaysia's weekly Cabinet meeting was cancelled on Wednesday (Sept 30) as five ministers were under quarantine after returning from Sabah.

The country reported a cumulative total of 11,484 cases of the virus on Thursday, including 136 deaths.

Ahmad said of the postponed divisional meetings: "We must not take the risk. The safety of the people is the responsibility of us all. That is why the party president has made this decision.

"The postponement will be until further notice and this directive is to be complied by all divisions. "