Malaysia to sign deal with AstraZeneca as as it experiences surge in COVID-19 cases

On Monday, December 21, Malaysia will be signing an agreement with AstraZeneca Plc. regarding COVID-19 vaccine supply, stated news agency Bernama while citing Health Minister Adham Baba. Although earlier contained effectively, the Southeast Asian nation has seen a surge in COVID-19 cases in recent times. According to a tally by the Johns Hopkins University, Malaysia has a total of 93,309 cases with 437 fatalities. 

Read: Malaysia Imposes Emergency In Two Constituencies As COVID-19 Cases Escalate

Current situation in Malaysia 

Just last month, the government ordered a total of 12.8 million doses of the Pfizer Inc.-BioNTech SE vaccine for 20 per cent of the population. Also, it has an agreement with the World Health Organization’s Covax facility to vaccinate 10 per cent of its people. However, the priority for vaccination will be frontline workers. 

Read: Oxford-AstraZeneca Vaccine Deemed 'safe & Effective' As Phase 3 Data Gets Peer-reviewed

State of Emergency 

Also, with a surge in cases, the government has declared a state of emergency to stop the bi-election scheduled for next month. The vote declared in the states of Gerik and Sabah, was planned to be held on January 16. However, it was rescheduled after one of them witnessed a steep rise in infections.  

In a statement, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin stated that the king had agreed to impose an emergency on both constituencies. As per the health officials, the Bugaya constituency in Sabah on Borneo, with its unprecedented spike in COVID-19 cases, has now become the epicentre of the country’s third wave of infection and Gerik constituency in Perek state. The government had previously imposed an emergency in another part of Sabah to block bi-cameral elections. Previously, Malaysia's king had rejected a proposal by the Prime Minister to declare a state of emergency aimed at curbing COVID-19. The plan, which involved suspending Parliament, sparked national outrage, with critics slamming the move as an undemocratic means for him to hang on to power amid challenges to his leadership.

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(Image Credits: AP)