Malaysia announces $36B in aid after extending lockdown

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia's leader announced a 150 billion ringgit ($36.2 billion) financial package on Monday to help needy households and businesses and bolster vaccination efforts after a national coronavirus lockdown was extended indefinitely.

The country has been under a near-total lockdown since June 1 that was due to expire Monday, but Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said over the weekend that it will not be eased until new infections fall below 4,000 a day and at least 10% of the population has been vaccinated.

New daily coronavirus cases have come down from a peak of over 9,000 a month ago, but still remain high. The health ministry reported 5,218 new infections on Monday, bringing the country's total to 739,266, including 5,001 deaths.

Muhyiddin said the financial package will include a 10 billion ringgit ($2.4 billion) fiscal injection. He said cash handouts will be given to 11 million households, senior citizens, a million workers who lost their jobs and another million small businesses.

An additional 3.8 billion ringgit ($916 million) will be used for wage subsidies in addition to loan moratoriums, tax breaks, grants and other measures to support businesses, he said.

Muhyiddin said the government will spend another 1 billion ringgit ($241 million) to ramp up its inoculation program, including 400 million ringgit ($96 million) to buy more vaccines. This will be enough to cover 130% of the country’s 33 million people, including young people age 12 to 18, he said.

“The government is working hard, even within limitations, to ensure the country remains on the right track of recovery ... vaccination will be the key to our success in fighting COVID-19," he said. So far, 6% of the population has been fully vaccinated and another 15% has received one...