Malaysia, Philippines extend curbs amid spike in Covid-19 cases
Bangkok, Jun 15 (EFE).- Malaysia and the Philippines have extended their coronavirus restrictions to counter rising infection rates that are stretching their respective health systems to breaking point amid a slow vaccination campaign.
Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on Tuesday stressed the need to extend the nationwide curbs, which restrict freedom of movement and economic activity, from Tuesday until 28 June to tackle the increase of new cases.
In a statement, he pledged to acquire 16 million coronavirus jabs and speed up the inoculation rollout to vaccinate 300,000 people a day over the upcoming months.
The country has been reporting over 4,000 daily cases, while total infections stand at over 660,000 cases, with more than 3,900 deaths.
Some 1.41 million people have been fully inoculated, just 4.4 percent of Malaysia’s population, according to the Our World in Data website.
Philippine authorities have also extended restrictions in the capital Manila and neighboring provinces as well as a flight ban on countries such as India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka from Monday until the end of the month to stem outbreaks.
Thus far, the Philippines have vaccinated 1.88 million people, only 1.7 percent of the total population.
The Indonesian authorities, meanwhile, expect the fresh infections to peak in July due to the spread of the Delta variant that originated in India, while 4.3 percent of the population have been fully immunized. EFE
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