Bangkok, July 9, (dpa/GNA) – Malaysia’s Health Ministry on Friday reported the country’s highest daily number of coronavirus cases, after almost two months of what the government has called a “total” lockdown.
The 9,180 cases were announced a day after the ministry reported a record one-day coronavirus-related death toll of 135.
More than half of Friday’s new cases were reported in Kuala Lumpur, the biggest city, and in Selangor, the country’s industrial hub.
Businesses in Selangor have pleaded with the government to relax rules that have forced many of them to close, including factories that produce around half the world’s supply of medical and surgical gloves.
Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin is struggling to retain control after the biggest party in his governing coalition, the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), withdrew support this week and demanded he resign.
UMNO said Muhyiddin had mishandled the pandemic and accused him of using the virus to justify imposing emergency rule and with it the suspension of parliament.
“The situation needs to be rectified from the top. The ship sailed according to the captain’s plan,” UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said on Friday.
GNA