TEMPO.CO, Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia’s King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah on Tuesday approved a national emergency as Covid-19 cases soar. Reuters reported the state of emergency will take effect starting today until August.

The declaration came following a suggestion from Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yasin. If transmission rate subsides earlier than August, the state of emergency will end sooner.

The national emergency status gives PM Yasin and his cabinet will get new privileges in governing, such as not requiring parliament approval for issuing policies.

It also means that the Malaysian Parliament's activities are suspended for now.

The Kingdom of Malaysia asserts that national emergency status purely aims at curbing Covid-19 spread—unrelated to political issues in the country. The King had rejected Yasin's proposal for national emergency in October, when the opposition saw it as an effort for him to maintain power.

As of this article's time of writing, Malaysia's total caseload has exceeded 138,000 with 555 deaths, far below Indonesia's 828,000 cases and 24,000 deaths.

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ISTMAN MP | REUTERS