Hanoi (VNA) – Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced onlate March 16 that the entire country will be on a movement control orderstarting from March 18-31 to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease(COVID-19).

Muhyiddin said the decision was made underthe Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 and the Police Act1967.

Following the decision, all places ofworship and business premises must be closed except for supermarkets, publicmarkets, grocery stores, and stores selling basic necessities, he stated,adding that all religious activities in mosques and surau will be suspended inline with the Special Muzakarah Council's decision on March 15.

Malaysians will be barred from leaving thecountry and restrictions placed on the entry of all tourists and foreignersinto Malaysia.

Muhyiddin added that government and privatepremises would be closed, except those providing essential services, such aswater, electricity, energy, telecommunications, post, transportation, oil, gas,fuel, broadcasting, finance, banking, health, pharmacy, fire and rescue,security, defence, cleaning, retail and food supplies, along with prisons,ports and airports.

Meanwhile, Indonesian President Joko Widodoasserted that imposing a lockdown was not in the works for Indonesia or any ofits 34 provinces, in the context that the disease has spread to at least eightlocalities, with 134 infection cases, including five fatalities.

He stressed that issuing a lockdown policy,either at the national or regional level, is under the authority of the centralgovernment and such a policy cannot be issued by regional administrations.

He asked citizens to practice “socialdistancing” by maintaining a distance of at least 2 metres to minimise closecontact.

In other developments, Lao Prime MinisterThongloun Sisoulith on March 16 ordered the closure of all nurseries andkindergartens nationwide, starting from March 17 to the end of the country’sNew Year holiday (April 13-16).

He also decided to temporarily closeauxiliary border gates with neighbouring countries to focus on internationalborder gates which have full modern equipment to prevent the SARS-CoV-2 fromentering Laos./.