KUALA LUMPUR -- Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on Wednesday extended his country's coronavirus lockdown by two weeks from the initial cutoff point at the end of this month, with cases continuing to rise by the hundreds each day.
In a live televised address, Muhyiddin said the extension until April 14 was to prevent direct human contact that could accelerate second and subsequent waves of infections. The country recorded 172 new cases on Wednesday, bringing the total to 1,796 with 17 deaths.