Coronavirus: Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin declares targeted lockdowns

Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on Monday imposed partial lockdowns in most parts of the country after a months-long third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic showed no sign of abating. Six regions including the wealthy states of Johor, Selangor and Penang – as well as Kuala Lumpur, the administrative capital of Putrajaya and the federal territory of Labuan – will commence a strict two-week lockdown starting midnight on Wednesday. Residents in these areas are required to shelter in place and only leave their homes within a 10km radius to purchase food and necessities or for medical emergencies. Non-essential businesses will be shut, although places selling food can operate on a take-away basis. Citizens living in other states with fewer daily new cases will be subject to movement control orders (MCO) as well, albeit of a less stringent nature. All inter-state travel is banned. “The situation today is indeed very alarming. Our healthcare system is under tremendous pressure, more now than at any other time since the start of the pandemic,” the embattled prime minister said in a live address. “As I have said before, unprecedented situations call for unprecedented measures.” The various lockdowns are scheduled to end on January 26, but this depends heavily on the advice of the health ministry, Muhyiddin said. Cases have exploded since mid-September when the total number of infections stood just below 10,000; as of Sunday, that number had risen to nearly 136,000, with 551 deaths. There were 2,433 new cases reported on Sunday, down slightly from the high of 3,027 set on January 7. Noor Hisham Abdullah, the director general of the health ministry, last week suggested the country needed a “targeted” lockdown as the health care system was at “breaking point” due to the increasing infections. Spectre of lockdown looms again in Malaysia after record coronavirus surge Some observers have blamed the rise on elections in the state of Sabah on September 26, which were triggered by political machinations within Muhyiddin’s fractious Perikatan Nasional alliance. Largely unregulated movement of citizens and campaigning politicians in the weeks preceding the vote between peninsula Malaysia and Sabah caused a nationwide surge in cases following the emergence of clusters in the east Malaysian states. The turn of events has negated the praise Muhyiddin’s government had won in the early months of the pandemic, when it imposed a series of lockdowns to curb the first and second waves, and provided unprecedented economic aid packages. Later, safeguards such as limits on the number of people allowed to dine in at restaurants, mandatory mask-wearing in public and temperature checks were put in place as the economy slowly reopened. Monday’s declaration came amid fresh political headaches for Muhyiddin. Since coming to power last March through a political coup, the prime minister has been hit by infighting within the Perikatan Nasional alliance he forged with other Malay nationalists. Malaysian women, children bear brunt of coronavirus lockdown The United Malays National Organisation (Umno), the biggest group in the ruling alliance, has in recent weeks ratcheted up pressure on Muhyiddin to call a snap election. Key figures in Umno are hoping the party – which was in power from 1957 until a shock 2018 election defeat – can reassume its dominant position following the fresh polls. Meanwhile, the prime minister assured Malaysians that the first tranche of vaccines from Pfizer was expected to arrive by the end of February. “I guarantee that the government will do its best to protect all citizens,” he said. “I also beg you all to do what you can to protect each other and the community. Only by uniting against this virus can we win.” The Covid-19 National Vaccination Plan aims to inoculate 20 million to 23 million Malaysians. The government has already signed a preliminary agreement with Covax Facility, Pfizer and AstraZeneca for enough vaccines to cover about 40 per cent of the population. Muhyiddin said the government was in final negotiations with Sinovac, CanSino and Gamaleya for further supplies that would cover 82.8 per cent of the population, or 26.5 million people.