Malaysia will not re-impose coronavirus curbs for now despite spike

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 3 (Reuters) - Malaysia will not re-impose
widespread novel coronavirus restrictions on travel despite a
recent spike in infections, which a government minister said was
partly caused by migrants from neighbouring countries.
Malaysia imposed a nationwide lockdown in March but has been
gradually lifting the curbs, though authorities have warned that
they could be reinstated if daily increases in infections
reached triple-digits.
The Southeast Asian country has seen a steady climb in cases
in the past week and on Friday reported 287 new infections, the
highest daily rise since it began tracking the pandemic.
But security minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the
government did not see the need to reimpose the lockdown as the
majority of cases were being reported in detention centres and
isolated districts.
"There's only one or two cases in each state so it's not
something that's worrying at this point," Ismail told reporters.
The government has come under criticism for the increase in
cases, many of which have been in or linked to the
second-largest state of Sabah, on Borneo island, which held an
election last week.
Several politicians have been accused of violating social
distancing protocols on the campaign trail, while authorities
were criticised for not imposing control measures such as a
mandatory 14-day quarantine for travellers from Sabah.
Ismail said the Sabah outbreak stemmed from the illegal
entry of migrants. The government would increase resources and
personnel to guard the state's borders, he said.
"The cases in neighbouring countries have gone up and the
entry of illegal migrants from there have impacted on our
efforts to control the spread of COVID-19," he said.
Malaysia has avoided the level of outbreaks seen in
neighbours the Philippines and Indonesia, which have 319,330 and
299,506 cases respectively.
Malaysia has reported a total of 11,771 infections, with 136
deaths.