Malaysia declares total lockdown for two weeks after Covid-19 cases increase
From CNN s Elaine Ly and Jaide Garcia
Malaysia will implement a two-week total lockdown on social and economic sectors, according to a statement from the prime minister s office and reported by state media Bernama News Agency on Friday.
The Malaysian National Security Council will oversee the lockdown, according to the statement. Beginning June 1, all sectors will not be allowed to operate, except for essential economic and service sectors to be listed by MKN.
The statement attributes the decision to the latest rise in Covid-19 cases, saying the country is seeing daily cases exceeding 8,000 and over 70,000 active cases, as well as the presence of a new variant with a high and rapid infection rate.
On the same day that United States President Joe Biden announced he had directed the national intelligence community to redouble its efforts into the origin of Covid-19, Facebook said it would no longer remove from its platforms claims that the virus was man-made.
Up to three quarters of all newly diagnosed Covid-19 cases in the United Kingdom are attributed to the variant first identified in India, Britain's health minister Matt Hancock said at a news conference on Monday.