page_title: COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia
hierarchical_section_title: COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia
caption_attribution_description: English: Malaysia Covid-19 cases by states
context_page_description: The COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was confirmed to have reached Malaysia in January 2020, when it was detected on travellers from China arriving via Singapore on 25 January, following the outbreak of COVID-19 in Hubei, China. Reported cases remained relatively low and were largely confined to imported cases, until localised clusters began to emerge in March; the largest cluster was linked to a Tablighi Jamaat religious gathering held in Sri Petaling, Kuala Lumpur in late February and early March, leading to massive spikes in local cases and an exportation of cases to neighbouring countries. Within a few weeks, Malaysia had recorded the largest cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 infections in Southeast Asia, breaching the 2,000 active cases mark by the end of March, from fewer than 30 cases at the beginning of the month. By 16 March, the virus was reported in every state and federal territory in the country.
context_section_description: The COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The virus was confirmed to have reached Malaysia in January 2020, when it was detected on travellers from China arriving via Singapore on 25 January, following the outbreak of COVID-19 in Hubei, China. Reported cases remained relatively low and were largely confined to imported cases, until localised clusters began to emerge in March; the largest cluster was linked to a Tablighi Jamaat religious gathering held in Sri Petaling, Kuala Lumpur in late February and early March, leading to massive spikes in local cases and an exportation of cases to neighbouring countries. Within a few weeks, Malaysia had recorded the largest cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 infections in Southeast Asia, breaching the 2,000 active cases mark by the end of March, from fewer than 30 cases at the beginning of the month. By 16 March, the virus was reported in every state and federal territory in the country.
  The medical response to the outbreak is overseen by Director-General of Health Noor Hisham Abdullah under the Health Ministry of two successive governments. Preparations to stockpile equipment, detect and monitor cases, and treat COVID-19 patients were reported to have been initiated as early as 6 January 2020, following a World Health Organization (WHO) report on a late-December 2019 outbreak of "pneumonia of unknown cause" in the city of Wuhan, Hubei. As jumps in cases began to occur in early March and the Yang di-Pertuan Agong expressed great concern over the escalation of the outbreak, measures to combat the outbreak were later announced by the Prime Minister of Malaysia via live nationwide telecast on 13 March 2020. By 16 March, a nationwide "Movement Control Order" (MCO), intended to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 through social distancing, was announced to be in effect between 18 and 31 March. The Attorney-General's Chambers (AGC) also published a federal gazette on 18 March 2020 that restricts individuals from travelling to other states that have been declared as coronavirus-affected areas. On 25 March, the MCO was extended by an addition two weeks, until 14 April, as the rate of new cases per day remained consistently high. The MCO was further announced to be extended until 28 April on 10 April, and to 12 May on 23 April. A gradual easing of restrictions under a "Conditional Movement Control Order" (CMCO), which allows most businesses to open on 4 May under strict standards of practice, was announced on 1 May and was in effect until 9 June. It was replaced with Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) until Aug 31.
  Initially reporting the highest number of cases in Southeast Asia in March and early-April, the number of active cases in Malaysia has declined steadily from a peak of 2,600 in early-April to a fluctuation of less than 250 cases since the late-June, while the country's case count has since been eclipsed by the Philippines (on 14 April), Indonesia (on 15 April), and Singapore (on 18 April). The extent of its outbreak remains more severe than in neighbouring Thailand, Vietnam, and Brunei, with a higher fatality count than in Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, and Brunei.
caption: Distribution map of COVID-19 confirmed cases by state (territory)
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