MikeLigalig.com

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced his government’s initiative to distribute face masks on March 23, after health officials warned of a “tsunami” of infections if people did not follow restrictions on movement.

“I want to say, we will distribute it freely to all Malaysians in need,” Muhyiddin told a news conference at the time. “It is a government contribution.”

Malaysia, the world’s largest maker of medical gloves, has no shortage of protective equipment for its health workers, Noor Hisham Abdullah, the director-general of health, said during a news briefing on Wednesday. The country has imposed a lockdown until April 14 to contain the pandemic.

Noor warned in a Facebook post last month that Malaysia was facing a slim chance of breaking the chain of infections.

“Failure is not an option here,” he said. “If not, we may face a third wave of this virus, which would be greater than a tsunami, if we maintain a ‘so what’ attitude.”

With 4,119 confirmed infections and 65 deaths as of Wednesday, Malaysia remained the country with the third-highest caseload in Asia, behind China and South Korea. The Philippines reported 106 new cases, taking its tally of cases to 3,870 with 182 deaths.

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=93770.0

As part of financial packages to help cushion the pandemic’s economic impact, Thai officials said Wednesday that 280,000 people who were not enrolled in the nation’s social security program had received their first monthly subsidy of 5,000 baht ($153).

The subsidies will be distributed for three months and are aimed at helping about three million self-employed Thais. In late March, the government asked Thai citizens to sign up online for the package, which would allow recipients to apply for an additional 10,000 baht ($305) in loans. But 24 million people signed up within the first few days, officials said.

Korn Chatikavanij, a former finance minister, told BenarNews that the economic benefit should be expanded to cover 24 million people.

“There are about five million people who are in the social security system and seven million people who are outside the social security system. There are also 12 million farmers, and how about those company employees whose salaries were either reduced or were stopped? They should have been compensated too,” he said.

Meanwhile in Bangladesh, where the government has faced criticism for its slow testing of suspected infections, authorities on Wednesday sealed off the industrial city of Narayanganj and more than 50 neighborhoods in nearby Dhaka, the capital, to contain the pandemic.

Bangladeshi health authorities reported 54 new cases on Wednesday, bringing the South Asian nation’s confirmed COVID-19 infections to 218, with 20 fatalities so far.

“After Dhaka, Narayanganj is the hotspot of coronavirus infections in Bangladesh,” Mohammad Salim Reza, the additional deputy commissioner of Narayanganj, told BenarNews, referring to the city about two million people.

“We have sealed off city corporation areas and adjacent sub-districts,” he said. “No people will be allowed to enter or leave. The army, police and other law enforcement agencies have been patrolling the areas under lockdown.”

He said health authorities had confirmed 37 COVID-19 infections, including six deaths, in Narayanganj.

Mariyam Ahmad in Pattani, Thailand, and Nontarat Phaicharoen in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Shop at www.microsoft.com

Linkback: https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=93770.0