Malaysian capital to be placed under 2-week virus lockdown

JAKARTA, Indonesia

Malaysia will put its capital Kuala Lumpur and the city of Johor Bahru under a two-week COVID-19 lockdown amid soaring COVID-19 cases, an official said late Wednesday.

“After evaluating the Health Ministry's presentation and suggestions, the government has agreed to enforce a movement control order in the whole of Kuala Lumpur from May 7 to May 20,” Senior Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said in a statement.

This comes after the Health Ministry verified there were 17 new clusters in Kuala Lumpur and the number of daily cases are increasing.

The minister said that the number of active cases has surpassed 150 in Johor Bahru, Kulai and Kota Tinggi districts, hence they would also be put under lockdown, as well as 15 other sub-districts in Terengganu and Perak states.

Social events such as weddings, reunions and retreats, and dining-in will remain banned, he added.

Malaysia has seen a spike in COVID-19 cases lately, with daily infections exceeding 2,000 since April 15. It has so far recorded 424,376 cases, including 1,591 fatalities.

The Southeast Asian country began a vaccination drive late February. At least 1.5 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered so far.

*Writing by Rhany Chairunissa Rufinaldo with Anadolu Agency's Indonesian language services in Jakarta