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On Monday, December 21, Malaysia will sign an agreement with AstraZeneca Plc. regarding the supply of the COVID-19 vaccine, Bernama news agency stated in quoting Health Minister Adham Baba. Although it was previously effectively contained, the Southeast Asian nation has seen an increase in COVID-19 cases of late. According to a tally by Johns Hopkins University, Malaysia has a total of 93,309 cases with 437 deaths.
Read: Malaysia imposes emergency in two districts as COVID-19 cases rise
Current situation in Malaysia
Just last month, the government ordered a total of 12.8 million doses of the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE vaccine for 20 percent of the population. In addition, it has an agreement with the Covax facility of the World Health Organization to vaccinate 10 percent of its population. However, the priority for vaccination will be front-line workers.
Read: Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine deemed ‘safe and effective’ as phase 3 data is peer-reviewed
State of emergency
In addition, with an increase in cases, the government has declared a state of emergency to stop the bielections scheduled for next month. The declared vote in the states of Gerik and Sabah was scheduled for January 16. However, it was rescheduled after one of them witnessed a sharp increase in infections.
In a statement, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin stated that the king had agreed to impose an emergency on both electoral districts. According to health officials, the Bugaya constituency in Sabah in Borneo, with its unprecedented rise in COVID-19 cases, has now become the epicenter of the country’s third wave of infection and Gerik’s constituency in the state. by Perek. The government had previously imposed an emergency in another part of Sabah to block the bicameral elections. Previously, the King of Malaysia had rejected a proposal by the Prime Minister to declare a state of emergency aimed at curbing COVID-19. The plan, which included the suspension of parliament, sparked national outrage, with critics criticizing the move as an undemocratic means for him to hold onto power amid challenges to his leadership.
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Also read: No evidence was found related to the death of a French-Irish teenager in Malaysia
(Image credits: AP)
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