Sources: AP News
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — A worsening coronavirus outbreak in Malaysia has sparked alarm and is spilling over into neighboring Thailand, which recently discovered a more infectious variant in its south believed to have come from Malaysia.
Malaysia has experienced a rapid climb in new cases since April that has strained its hospitals and prompted the government to impose a near lockdown until June 7.
But infections have not abated, with a record 7,289 new cases reported Tuesday, pushing the country’s tally to 525,889 — a five-fold increase since the start of the year. Deaths have spiked to more than 2,300. It is the third worst-hit country in Southeast Asia after Indonesia and the Philippines.
Health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah warned Tuesday that the country has to “prepare for the worst” amid signs that new cases could spike further.
Written by, Miss Oumsree Ananthakumarl