Malaysia raises alert over spiking COVID-19 cases

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's ministry of health on Wednesday cautioned that the country has yet to see the worst of a current surge in coronavirus cases, as it reported its highest daily death count to date.

Malaysia recorded 39 deaths among the 4,765 new cases on Wednesday, pushing its total caseload past 450,000 with 1,761 fatalities - the third highest rate in Southeast Asia behind Indonesia and the Philippines. The government on Monday declared a nationwide lockdown, just days before the Eid al-Fitr celebration, as the country grapples with a jump in cases that health authorities say could be linked to new and highly-infection variants.