Malaysia’s full lockdown after 8,290 new COVID-19 cases reported on 28th May
On 28th May 2021, Malaysia recorded 8,290 new COVID-19 cases, as reported by KKM. Today’s confirmed COVID-19 cases sees another worrisome record-breaking high of a total daily count since the start of the pandemic in Malaysia, surpassing yesterday’s already staggering high of 7,857 new cases. In view of this, the government has announced that it will implement a full lockdown from 1st to 14th June, to try to bring cases down.
Full lockdown in Malaysia from 1st to 14th June
On 28th May 2021, The Prime Minister’s Office put out a statement announcing the government’s decision to put Malaysia under a full lockdown as cases hit a new high for the 4th consecutive day.
According to a report by The Star, the decision was made after Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin chaired a special National Security Council meeting.
Reasons cited for this tough call besides record-high COVID-19 cases reported include the existence of new and more infections strains of COVID-19, the high number of active COVID-19 cases, and the dwindling hospital capacity nationwide, among others.
Under the first phase of this new lockdown, which will come into effect next Tuesday, 1st June 2021, only essential economic and service sectors will be allowed to operate. More specific SOPs have not been announced at the time of writing.
Depending on whether or not this 2-week full lockdown is able to bring down cases, the lockdown will move to subsequent phases with loosened SOPs that are yet to be determined.
For businesses and people affected by this stringent lockdown, the PMO said that an assistance package will be prepared by the Finance Ministry in due course.
Selangor records 2,052 new cases, followed by Kelantan and KL
The record number of 8,290 new COVID-19 cases on 28th May marks the first time Malaysia has surpassed the 8,000 mark since the start of the pandemic. Of the total daily cases recorded today, Selangor once again clocked in highest cases in a state nationwide, with 2,065 cases. This sees the state’s total case count to be 179,502 since the pandemic started.
Other states recording high cases are Kelantan (851), KL (830), Johor (762) and Sarawak (698).
Labuan (6) and Perlis (8) sees a small win with numbers falling in the single digit.
Image credit: @KKMPutrajaya
The last 3 days saw the highest count of daily cases in the country since the beginning of 2021, with today’s total cases of 8,290 surpassing them.
The addition of today’s cases sees the country’s current total cases standing at 549,514.
Image credit: Noor Hisham Abdullah
Update: Today sees 61 new death cases and 808 individuals in the ICU, as shared by Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah on Facebook today, 28th May.
An impressive 4,814 new recovered cases puts our current recovery rate at 86.29%.
The current active cases in our country is 72,823, or about 13.35% of total cases in Malaysia.
Malaysia to enter full lockdown as daily COVID-19 cases breach the 8K mark on 28th May 2021
We have all been hoping for better days in the pandemic, which countries across the world have been fighting against for over a year now. With cases still on a high in Malaysia, as seen with today’s new high of 8,290 cases, it seems inevitable that the government would announce a full lockdown. While we wait for more details on the full lockdown, we can only hope for better days by continuing to practise safety measures to keep ourselves and others safe.
Update: This article has been updated to reflect the new full lockdown announcement from the PMO on the evening of 28th May 2021.
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Cover image adapted from: Unsplash / @seakei and @KKMPutrajaya