PM chairs special meeting on COVID-19

PUTRAJAYA, March 13 -- Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin today chaired a special meeting on COVID-19 at the Prime Minister’s Office here.

The meeting, which began at 3 pm, was attended by Senior Minister of International Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali; Senior Minister of Defence Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob; Senior Minister of Education Dr Mohd Radzi Md Jidin; Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz and Health Minister Datuk Seri Sri Dr Adham Baba.

Also present were Transport Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wee Ka Siong; Environment Minister Datuk Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man; Women and Family Minister Datuk Seri Rina Harun; Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri M. Saravanan and Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican.

Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ronald Kiandee; Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein; Religious Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri; Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri and Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah were also in attendance.

At a press conference after chairing his first Cabinet meeting of the Perikatan Nasional government last Wednesday, the Prime Minister also expressed worry over COVID-19 outbreak which had hugely impacted the country, especially in the economic sectors.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday declared COVID-19 as a pandemic.

As of yesterday, Malaysia recorded 158 confirmed cases of the disease, 32  of whom have been discharged from hospital.

-- BERNAMA