Newly-minted Prime Minister of Malaysia Muhyiddin Yassin has extended the country's existing movement control order (MCO) to Apr. 14, 2020.

This was announced by Muhyiddin on Wednesday, Mar. 25 in a special address.

This move was in response to the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the country, and Muhyiddin stated that he had been briefed by the National Security Council (NSC) and the Health Ministry, reported Malay Mail.

He said: "The trend is expected to continue for a while before new cases begin to subside. This means that the government must continue the MCO for a longer period of time."

This announcement was made in advance so Malaysia citizens would be "prepared", he said.

Lockdown meant to last till Mar. 31

The announcement of a lockdown was first made on Mar. 16, and was originally planned to last two weeks from Mar. 18 to Mar. 31.

The abruptness of the announcement left many scrambling, especially Malaysians who made cross-border commutes to Singapore for work en masse causing intense jams.

To help these Malaysians working in Singapore cope, the Singapore government has since announced a slew of measures to provide workers with the necessary accommodations.

As part of the order in Malaysia, mass events were cancelled, including cultural, social, sports and religious events.

All places of worship and businesses have also been closed, except for markets, supermarkets and shops selling sundry goods.

All childcare centres, schools and tertiary education institutes will close.

All tourists and foreign visitors going into Malaysia are barred.

Malaysians are also barred from travelling abroad.

As of 5pm on Mar. 24, Malaysia had a total of 1,624 Covid-19 cases and 17 fatalities, according to Malay Mail.

Top photo by Andrew Koay