He said the budget for Covid-19 measures had now been increased to RM1 billion, with an additional RM5 billion to buy vaccines and speed up the vaccination rate.

“Previously, the vaccination rate was around 30,000 to 40,000 injections a day and now it has reached 76,000. It will continue to increase from July in line with the vaccine supply schedule,” he said at a press conference here today.

Tengku Zafrul said more allocations will be given to increase the capacity of ICUs and beds in public hospitals, university teaching hospitals and to provide more military field hospitals.

“Provisions will also be increased to upgrade equipment, medicine and related consumables and the appointment of medical officers on contract basis, including retirees,” he said.

He said the new restrictions under the movement control order were needed as a “circuit breaker” to reduce the burden on the national health system.

He said other countries were also experiencing an increase in Covid-19 cases since early 2021 with the spread of new variants of the virus.

“A total lockdown is not a way to break the chain of infections because it will impact the people, especially the vulnerable groups,” he said. The impact would be felt more by the low-income group and informal sector workers.

Various targeted assistance would be continued to help affected individuals and businesses, he said.

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