Malaysia PM Muhyiddin Yassin extends lockdown as COVID-19 cases rise

Malaysia on Friday said it will extend lockdown to April 28 which was originally set to end on April 14 as cases of COVID-19 continued to climb in the country.

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In an address to the nation, PM Muhyiddin Yassin said: "Let me remind you that the war on COVID-19 is not yet over. The fight is still on … Just uplift your spirits and continue to fight. If we persevere, God willing we will win."

Malaysia has over 4,000 cases of COVID-19 in the country.

The current lockdown was meant to slow the rate of infections even as citizens resorted to panic buying but with cases increasing, PM Yassin said: “We must be prepared to bear with this situation for a relatively longer period of time. The month of Ramadan is coming soon. We can’t go to the bazaars to buy food to break our fast with, we can’t go to the mosques, maybe we can’t even return to our hometowns. This is the reality we face."

Last month, the government had deployed the army to enforce restrictions to combat COVID-19 as it started gaining a foothold in the country.

Schools and businesses were shut as Malaysians braced for lockdown as cases reached over 1,000. More than half of Malaysia's infection cases have been linked to a gathering near Kuala Lumpur last month which was attended by over 16,000 people from across the world.