His call comes after increasing speculation of a “total lockdown” in the Klang Valley following a spike in cases there.

In a statement on Facebook, Mahathir proposed that a “home quarantine” must take place for at least a month with strict enforcement by the police and military.

However, these measures must also be supported by food provisions for the people, with the government bearing the full cost, he said.

“The government must accept the responsibility of keeping people alive. There should be public kitchens where food is prepared, packaged and delivered to the homes.

“Couriers should be recruited to deliver the food to homes. There should be no contact between the delivery workers and the householders,” he said.

Mahathir also suggested that hotel kitchens be utilised to prepare and package the food.

On top of this, he said, vaccinations must be expedited, with a special initiative to reach the rural areas.

He also questioned why the government still lacked the capacity to deal with the worsening Covid-19 situation despite claims that it had spent more than RM600 billion.

“We must know why. RM600 billion is a lot of money. It is not easy to spend that money in such a short space of time,” he said.

Mahathir said several policies, such as the flip-flop over Ramadan bazaars, have shown that the country has not learnt anything from the year-long fight against Covid-19.

“We have to be serious about the fight against Covid-19. If not, we are going to see a lot of people die who could have been saved.”

Earlier this week, health minister Dr Adham Baba said the health ministry was considering enforcing stricter SOPs or even a full-scale MCO in Selangor if the state fails to curb the spread of Covid-19.

He was asked why the MCO rules in Selangor were the same as in other states, despite its higher number of infections.

Selangor recorded more than 2,000 cases yesterday out of a record daily total of 6,075 in the country.