THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

Malaysia pushes domestic tourism as Asean reports over 71,000 cases

Malaysia pushes domestic tourism as Asean reports over 71,000 cases

New Covid-19 cases and related deaths in Southeast Asia were slightly higher on Thursday compared to the previous day, collated data showed.

Asean reported 71,263 new cases and 1,460 deaths on Thursday, higher than Wednesday’s 69,057 and 1,440 respectively.

The number of Covid-19 cases in the region crossed 11.26 million and the death toll to 248,366.

Laos reported 154 new cases on Thursday, bringing cumulative cases in the country to 18,059 with 16 deaths. The government announced the extension of a countrywide lockdown until September 30, as the infection rate is still climbing. People have been advised to strictly adhere to disease control measures when attending funerals, and to refrain from large public gatherings to curb the spread of the delta variant of the virus.

Meanwhile Malaysia announced the reopening of Langkawi, a cluster of 99 islands in the Straits of Malacca from September 16 to fully vaccinated travellers as part of a domestic tourism bubble, with strict protocols in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Authorities said if the "Langkawi sandbox" programme proved to be successful, similar schemes would be implemented in other areas to revive the country’s tourism.

Malaysia had the second highest number of cases in Asean on Thursday at 18,815 and the most deaths at 422.

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