KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia will not shut down its economic and industrial activities even if new COVID-19 cases spike, Malaysian Minister of International Trade and Industry Mohamed Azmin Ali has said.
Previous lockdowns had caused 826,000 people to lose jobs in the first three months of the total lockdown in 2020, Mohamed Azmin said following a Chinese Lunar New Year dinner hosted in Johor state on Monday by the Batu Pahat Chinese Chamber of Commerce.
“We can’t do it anymore (total lockdown), yes, we need to manage this pandemic effectively, we will do our best on the health matter, but ‘economic health’ is also important. And we will now do it in a balanced way if there is a sudden spike (COVID-19),” state news agency Bernama quoted the minister as saying.
Read more: Malaysia’s GDP to expand 6.2 pct in 2022
Mohamed Azmin said his ministry will focus on getting the employees of the economic sector vaccinated.
Malaysia has seen a spike in fresh COVID-19 infections over the past week, with 13,944 new cases being reported on Tuesday alone, according to data from the health ministry, with the Omicron variant being blamed for the increase.
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