World News | Malaysia's Daily Coronavirus Cases Top 20,000

Kuala Lumpur, Aug 5 (AP) Malaysia's daily coronavirus infections exceeded 20,000 for the first time Thursday, doubling in just three weeks despite a national lockdown.

The health ministry reported 20,596 new cases, pushing the country's total confirmed infections to 1.2 million.

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Malaysia imposed a state of emergency to battle the pandemic in January, followed by a large-scale lockdown on June 1 but it has failed to curb the pandemic. Daily infections have continued to surge and breached 10,000 on July 13.

The worsening pandemic has sparked growing public anger at the government's perceived mismanagement of the crisis. Embattled Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin is facing growing calls to resign.

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On Wednesday, the health ministry approved the Moderna vaccine for emergency use as the government sought to ramp up its vaccination program. Nearly a third of the adult population in Malaysia has been fully inoculated.

Deaths rose by 164 to a confirmed total of 10,019. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)