• Burmese
Wednesday, July 9, 2025
No Result
View All Result
NEWSLETTER
The Irrawaddy
32 °c
Yangon
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Junta Watch
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Books
  • Donation
No Result
View All Result
The Irrawaddy
No Result
View All Result
Home News Asia

Malaysia Deploys Army as Coronavirus Measures Spread Across Southeast Asia

Reuters by Reuters
March 23, 2020
in Asia
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0 0
A A
A soldier wearing a protective mask stands guard at a roadblock to enforce a movement control order due to the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on March 22, 2020. / REUTERS

A soldier wearing a protective mask stands guard at a roadblock to enforce a movement control order due to the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on March 22, 2020. / REUTERS

4.8k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

KUALA LUMPUR—Malaysia deployed the army on Sunday to enforce a two-week curb on travel in a country that has Southeast Asia’s highest number of coronavirus cases, most of them linked to a mass religious gathering held late last month.

The virus has so far infected more than 3,460 people across Southeast Asia, with 86 deaths, more than half of them in the region’s most populous country, Indonesia.

After Malaysia imposed stringent travel restrictions on Wednesday in the face of an upsurge in cases, Singapore and Vietnam both announced bans on foreigners entering the countries, with cases brought from outside on the rise.

RelatedPosts

Timor-Leste Hits Back at Myanmar Junta’s Objection to ASEAN Membership

Timor-Leste Hits Back at Myanmar Junta’s Objection to ASEAN Membership

July 7, 2025
1.1k
Drafting Voters as Cannon-Fodder; Rewarding Lackey Ladies; and More

Drafting Voters as Cannon-Fodder; Rewarding Lackey Ladies; and More

July 5, 2025
991
Dying in Jail, Myanmar’s Political Prisoners a ‘Stain on ASEAN’s Conscience’

Dying in Jail, Myanmar’s Political Prisoners a ‘Stain on ASEAN’s Conscience’

July 2, 2025
611

Troops joined police manning roadblocks and carrying out patrols in Malaysia to ensure full compliance with some of the tightest movement restrictions in the region.

“Even though police have said compliance is 90 percent now, 10 percent is not a small number,” Minister of Defense Ismail Sabri Yaakob said.

About 63 percent of Malaysia’s 1,306 cases are linked to a Feb. 27-March 1 Islamic gathering at a mosque near the capital Kuala Lumpur attended by people from more than two dozen countries.

The health ministry said 11,000 of an estimated 14,500 Malaysian attendees had been found and 6,700 had been tested, but it was still trying to track the rest.

“We need to find them, we need to test them, we need to isolate them and we need to treat them,” Ministry of Health Director General Noor Hisham Abdullah told a news briefing.

The person who brought the infection may have been from overseas, he said. Some 1,500 participants were from abroad.

The number of cases has risen sharply across Southeast Asia this month. Indonesia announced 10 more deaths, bringing the total number there to 48. In the Philippines, the death toll rose by six to 25.

Emergency hospital

With widespread anticipation of a surge in cases, Indonesia has turned its “Athlete’s Village” built for the 2018 Asian Games into an emergency hospital with a capacity to hold more than 4,000 patients.

Indonesia’s rate of testing has been far below that of neighbors, leading to suspicions it has far more cases than reported.

As of Friday, Indonesia had tested 1,898 people—around seven tests per one million people. Singapore said it had carried out tests on 25,000 people by Friday—about 4,500 tests per million people.

Singapore said it would not allow any short-term visitors to transit or enter the city-state. Vietnam also barred entry for all foreigners from Sunday, except for special cases.

In another measure, Vietnam closed the mausoleum for revolutionary leader and founding president Ho Chi Minh.

With cases in Thailand jumping by 188—the most in a single day—authorities urged workers not to flee Bangkok for their home towns after further restrictions were announced on the weekend for businesses and shopping malls.

People thronged one bus station to leave the city.

Many of the cases in Thailand have been linked to a boxing stadium and entertainment venues, which have now been ordered to shut.

“Most of the new cases were found in Bangkok and were among young people who continue to have social activities, which can lead to more infections,” Taweesin Wisanuyothin, a Public Health Ministry spokesman, told a news conference.

You may also like these stories:

China Bans Trade, Consumption of Wild Animals Due to Coronavirus

Southeast Asia Courts Local Tourists as Virus Shuts Chinese Out

Amid Coronavirus, God Goes Online to Reach Worshippers

Your Thoughts …
Tags: AseancoronavirusCOVID-19MalaysiaPublic healthSoutheast Asia
Reuters

Reuters

...

Similar Picks:

Singapore Called On to Stop Feeding Myanmar Junta’s War Machine
Myanmar’s Crisis & the World

Singapore Called On to Stop Feeding Myanmar Junta’s War Machine

by The Irrawaddy
August 24, 2023
10.2k

Over 200 civil society organizations demand that city-state block regime’s access to arms, dual-use goods, technology and funds.

Read moreDetails
Myanmar Junta Causes Thailand Problems
Guest Column

Myanmar Junta Causes Thailand Problems

by Paul Greening
March 7, 2024
6.8k

The multiple crises on Thailand’s border sparked by the Myanmar junta’s failed coup could present opportunities for Bangkok, but so...

Read moreDetails
Myanmar and the Death of ASEAN
Guest Column

Myanmar and the Death of ASEAN

by Bertil Lintner
August 29, 2023
6.3k

With the bloc’s future looking shaky due to its inability to handle the Myanmar crisis, China is securing its place...

Read moreDetails
Beyond Operation 1027: A New Mandala Order Needed in Myanmar
Guest Column

Beyond Operation 1027: A New Mandala Order Needed in Myanmar

by Htet Min Lwin and Thiha Wint Aung
January 4, 2024
5.9k

The new realities on the ground demand a bold new imagination that looks beyond the conventional nation-state.

Read moreDetails
ASEAN Misses Another Opportunity for Meaningful Action on Myanmar
Commentary

ASEAN Misses Another Opportunity for Meaningful Action on Myanmar

by Hpone Myat
May 29, 2025
4.8k

At its latest summit, the regional bloc offered more empty rhetoric and continued to push its useless Five Point Conesus,...

Read moreDetails
Thailand Sentences 7 to Jail for Protesting Myanmar Coup
Myanmar’s Crisis & the World

Thailand Sentences 7 to Jail for Protesting Myanmar Coup

by The Irrawaddy
August 24, 2023
4.4k

Neighboring country maintains strong relations with junta despite widespread atrocities and killing of over 4,000 opponents.

Read moreDetails
Load More
Next Post
AAPP headquarters in Yangon in 2018. / Htet Wai / The Irrawaddy

Long Way to Go but Marching to It: 20 Years of Pushing Political Reform in Myanmar

Military personnel spray disinfectant at a hospital on March 20 as a preventive measure against COVID-19. / Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Services Office

Myanmar’s Military Braced for Coronavirus Outbreak: Spokesman

No Result
View All Result

Recommended

37 Years and Counting: Why Has Myanmar’s Democracy Struggle Taken So Long?

37 Years and Counting: Why Has Myanmar’s Democracy Struggle Taken So Long?

6 days ago
1.3k
Myanmar Junta Blacklists 200 Firms for Dodging Hard Currency Grab

Myanmar Junta Blacklists 200 Firms for Dodging Hard Currency Grab

7 days ago
1.3k

Most Read

  • Chin Resistance Tensions Boil Over as CNA Seizes Rival’s Myanmar HQ

    Chin Resistance Tensions Boil Over as CNA Seizes Rival’s Myanmar HQ

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta Starves Last Rakhine Strongholds as AA Closes In

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • China’s Surveillance State Watches Everyone, Everywhere

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Myanmar Junta Trains Staff on Electronic Voting Machines Across the Country

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Timor-Leste Hits Back at Myanmar Junta’s Objection to ASEAN Membership

    shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Newsletter

Get The Irrawaddy’s latest news, analyses and opinion pieces on Myanmar in your inbox.

Subscribe here for daily updates.

Contents

  • News
  • Politics
  • War Against the Junta
  • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
  • Conflicts In Numbers
  • Junta Crony
  • Ethnic Issues
  • Asia
  • World
  • Business
  • Economy
  • Election 2020
  • Elections in History
  • Cartoons
  • Features
  • Opinion
  • Editorial
  • Commentary
  • Guest Column
  • Analysis
  • Letters
  • In Person
  • Interview
  • Profile
  • Dateline
  • Specials
  • Myanmar Diary
  • Women & Gender
  • Places in History
  • On This Day
  • From the Archive
  • Myanmar & COVID-19
  • Intelligence
  • Myanmar-China Watch
  • Lifestyle
  • Travel
  • Food
  • Fashion & Design
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Photo Essay
  • Donation

About The Irrawaddy

Founded in 1993 by a group of Myanmar journalists living in exile in Thailand, The Irrawaddy is a leading source of reliable news, information, and analysis on Burma/Myanmar and the Southeast Asian region. From its inception, The Irrawaddy has been an independent news media group, unaffiliated with any political party, organization or government. We believe that media must be free and independent and we strive to preserve press freedom.

  • Copyright
  • Code of Ethics
  • Privacy Policy
  • Team
  • About Us
  • Careers
  • Contact
  • Burmese

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Burma
    • Politics
    • World
    • Asia
    • Myanmar’s Crisis & the World
    • Ethnic Issues
    • War Against the Junta
    • Junta Cronies
    • Conflicts In Numbers
    • Junta Watch
    • Fact Check
    • Investigation
    • Myanmar-China Watch
    • Obituaries
  • Politics
  • Opinion
    • Commentary
    • Guest Column
    • Analysis
    • Editorial
    • Stories That Shaped Us
    • Letters
  • Ethnic Issues
  • War Against the Junta
  • In Person
    • Interview
    • Profile
  • Business
    • Economy
    • Business Roundup
  • Books
  • Donation

© 2023 Irrawaddy Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.