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Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced that the country will enter a near-full two-week lockdown starting June 1 after recording more than 8,000 new infections Friday, the Associated Press reported.
The government had entered lockdown earlier in May that allowed businesses to stay open, but rising numbers of cases since the Muslim Eid festival culminated in the highest daily infection rates the country has seen on Friday.
All social and economic activities will stop for the duration of the impending lockdown, while essential services will remain available.
Malaysia's total case count now sits at nearly 550,000, and 40% of the country's recorded deaths occurred in May alone.
For additional reporting on this story, see more from the Associated Press below.
Yassin said in a statement that some economic activities will be allowed to resume in the anticipated four-week second phase if daily cases decrease during the initial lockdown. Afterward, businesses can proceed with operations while social activities will remain on pause.
Yassin vowed that the government will bolster the healthcare system to ensure it doesn't collapse and ramp up vaccinations.
Earlier Friday, Senior Minister Ismail Sabri said many ethnic Malay Muslims violated COVID-19 safety rules that banned them from visiting each other during the Eid festival.
He said 24 Eid clusters have been detected, with 850 confirmed cases. Many of the positive cases involved people who were asymptomatic, he said.
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About the writer
Zoe Strozewski is a Newsweek reporter based in New Jersey. Her focus is reporting on U.S. and global politics. Zoe ... Read more