Indonesia, Malaysia witness surge in COVID-19 cases
Indonesia and Malaysia have recorded a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases with more than 100 new patients confirmed in 24 hours as of March 28 noon.
Students at a school in Tangerang city, Indonesia, have their body temperature taken on March 3 (Photo: AFP/VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) –Indonesia and Malaysia have recorded a surge in the number of COVID-19 caseswith more than 100 new patients confirmed in 24 hours as of March 28 noon.
Spokesman of the IndonesianGovernment Achmad Yurianto said COVID-19 cases there jumped to 1,155 with 109more cases reported as of March 28 noon.
He also confirmed 15 more fatalities whichraised the death toll in the country to 102, 62 of whom are in Jakarta capitalcity.
Amid the pandemic’s complexdevelopments, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan decided to extend the state ofemergency in the city to April 19, instead of April 5 as initially planned.
Speaking at a televised pressbriefing on March 28, he said with the extended state of emergency, the closureof schools and tourist destinations will also continue.
He also recommended citizensnot leave their houses, except for urgent and essential matters, and observesocial distancing to rein in the spread of the disease.
On March 20, the governordeclared a state of emergency in Jakarta from March 23 to April 5. He urgedcompanies to let their staff work from home to limit direct contact to avoid catchingthe coronavirus.
The Indonesian Governmentalso decided to convert Wisma Atlet Kemayoran, formerly used as the Athletes’Village for the 2018 Asian Games, into a hospital for treating 24,000 COVID-19patients.
In Malaysia, another 159 cases of SARS-CoV-2 were recorded in 24 hours as of 1pm on March 28, bringing thenumber of such patients to 2,320.
The Malaysian Ministry ofHealth said the number of deaths from COVID-19 has reached 27 while 320 havebeen cured and 61 discharged from hospital after fully recovering.
Kuala Lumpur capital postedthe biggest number of infection cases, followed by nearby Selangor state andthe southern state of Johor.
On March 18, the Malaysian Governmentissued some strict rules to control the epidemic, including a ban on travelamong administrative units across the country and closure of schools andrestaurants. The restrictions are set to stay effective until April 14./.
Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyddin Yassin on March 27 announced an economic stimulus package worth 250 billion RM (57.5 billion USD) to deal with negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Students at a school in Tangerang city, Indonesia, have their body temperature taken on March 3 (Photo: AFP/VNA) 
