Malaysians urged to wear masks amid Covid resurgence

KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian government on Monday urged citizens to wear masks and follow other precautionary measures amid a fresh Covid-19 resurgence.

Malaysia is experiencing another Covid-19 wave has led to an increase in new infections by 16.5 per cent to 16,917 cases from the 14,525 ones recorded between October 23 and 29, Xinhua news agency quoted caretaker Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin as saying to reporters here.

"We are faced with a small wave and we are not certain whether this will change. However, we found that in terms of entry to government hospitals, the most is among those who have mild symptoms. Not serious symptoms," he said.

The Minister added that the use of beds in the intensive care units (ICUs) has increased by 2 per cent.

Given the current situation, Khairy said that wearing of face marks is now "highly recommended" especially as the country will hold a snap general election on November 19.

"Be careful. We are still not mandating masks but it is highly recommended. We highly encourage the use of face masks, especially among those aged 50 years old and above, those with chronic health problems and those with immune system deficiencies," he said.

Malaysia underwent several lockdowns as part of its efforts to combat the disease between 2020 and April of this year along with a variety of other measures, including a national immunization campaign.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic in early 2020, Malaysia has reported a total of 4,900,051 confirmed Covid cases and 36,466 deaths.