emergency measures exacerbated ongoing political instability throughout 2020 and 2021. this led to muhyiddin's resignation following the collapse of his government, and the appointment of a successor government under ismail sabri yaakob, in august 2021. the country's vaccination programme, which commenced in late february 2021, has fully inoculated over 80% of the population and 97% of adults as of 24 april 2022. nomenclature main article: coronavirus disease 2019 § terminology the ministry of health originally referred to this disease as the "2019 novel coronavirus". some media referred to this disease as the "wuhan coronavirus". during the onset of the outbreak, the malaysian media called it the "radang paru-paru wuhan" in malay, meaning "wuhan pneumonia". then some media changed the name to "radang paru-paru koronavirus baru" (new coronavirus pneumonia) in malay. the ministry of health and most media now refer to the disease as "covid-19", as suggested by the world health organization (who) on 11 february 2020. background on 12 january 2020, the world health organization (who) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in wuhan city, hubei province, china, which was reported to the who on 31 december 2019. unlike the sars outbreak of 2003, the case fatality ratio for covid-19 has been much lower, but the transmission has been significantly greater, with a significant total death toll. transmission timeline main articles: timeline of the covid-19 pandemic in malaysia (2020), timeline of the covid-19 pandemic in malaysia (2021), and timeline of the covid-19 pandemic in malaysia (2022) malaysia reported its first three cases on 25 january 2020, all of whom were chinese nationals who had visited the country. malaysia experienced a spike in covid-19 cases following a four-day tablighi jamaat event that was held at kuala lumpur's "masjid jamek sri petaling" between 27 february and 1 march 2020. by 20 march, 48% of the country's covid-19 cases (3,347) had been linked to the sri petaling tabligh cluster. in response to the rise in cases nationally, prime minister muhyiddin yassin announced that malaysia would enter into a partial lockdown on 18 march 2020. on 17 march, malaysia reported its first two deaths from the coronavirus: a 60-year-old priest from emmanuel baptist church in kuching, sarawak and a 34-year-old participant of the sri petaling tabligh jamaat from johor bahru, johor. on 3 april, a spike in 217 new cases was reported, bringing the total number to 3,333. the director-general of health noor hisham abdullah attributed this spike to active detection in areas affected by enhanced movement controlled order, a stricter version of the mco. in response to rising cases, the government extended the movement control order until 28 april. on 1 may, prime minister muhyiddin yassin announced that the country's lockdown would be eased on 4 may, allowing most businesses to reopen while maintaining a ban on mass gatherings. from 21 may, a spike of cases occurred among detainees at immigration detention centres in bukit jalil and semenyih, selangor, causing the number of cases to rise to a total of 7,819 cases by 31 may. on 20 july, prime minister muhyiddin announced that the malaysian government would consider making face masks compulsory following the emergence of 13 clusters after the relaxation of lockdown restrictions on travel and businesses the previous month. by 31 august, there were 160 active cases with a total of 9,340 cases. a total of 9,054 had recovered while the death toll had risen to 127. at least two regional outbreaks have occurred since july 2020. in late july and august, several clusters emerged in kedah and sarawak. in september 2020, a major outbreak in sabah initially detected in two prisons led to a spike in community cases within that state. following the 2020 sabah state election, the number of cases rose across the country due to sabah voters returning to work in other states. malaysian authorities also attributed the surge of cases in sabah to the entry of illegal immigrants from indonesia. the country passed the 10,000 cases mark on 16 september 2020, and 11 deaths, primarily in kedah and sabah, were reported between the month ends of august and september. throughout december, the total number of cases climbed rapidly, reaching the 100,000 mark on 24 december. on 23 december, the malaysian health ministry confirmed that it had identified a new covid-19 strain dubbed the "a701b" strain. by 6 january 2021, the number of recovered had exceeded 100,000. on the same day, the director general reported there were 252 active clusters in malaysia. by 25 january 2021, malaysia ranked 29th in a list of countries with the highest number of infections over a two-week period published by johns hopkins university, with 48,625 new infections during that period. on 18 february, the death toll exceeded the 1,000 mark, reaching 1,005 deaths. by 22 may, the total number of cases had reached the 500,000 mark, reaching 505,115. by 2 june 2021, the total number of recoveries had exceeded the 500,000 mark, reaching 501,898. on 28 june, the death toll exceeded 5,000, reaching 5,001. on 26 july, the total number of cases exceeded the one million mark, reaching 1,013,438. by 5 august, the death toll had reached the 10,000 mark, reaching 10,019. by 7 august, the total number of recoveries had reached the 1 million mark, reaching 1,009,343. by 11 september, the death toll had exceeded 20,000, reaching 20,419. by 14 september, the total number of cases exceeded the two million mark, reaching 2,011,440. by 27 september, the total number of recoveries exceeded the two million mark, reaching 2,005,942. on 21 november, malaysia's death toll exceeded the 30,000 thresholds, reaching 30,002. on 13 february 2022, the total number of cases in malaysia exceeded the 3 million mark, reaching 3,040,235. by 24 february, the total number of recoveries had reached the 3 million mark, reaching 3,018,172. federal government responses movement control order temperature checkup at a mcdonald's restaurant in the capital city of kuala lumpur during movement control order. 2020 beginning on 15 march, malaysia saw a significant jump in active cases. the prime minister of malaysia held a live nationwide telecast on 16 march 2020 at 10:00 pm (utc+8) to announce the decision of the federal government in implementing the movement control order (mco). based on the live address that evening, six restrictions have been imposed: the public is prohibited from mass gatherings or attending massive events including religious, sports, social and cultural activities. all worshipping locations and business premises should be closed except for supermarkets, public markets, grocery stores and convenience stores that sell everyday necessities. for muslims, all religious activities in mosques including friday prayers are adjourned in line with the decision made on 15 march 2020 by the special muzakarah committee meeting of the national fatwa council (mki). malaysians returning from abroad are required to undergo health checks and self-quarantine for 14 days. tourists and foreign visitors are restricted to enter the country. closure of all kindergartens, government and private schools, including daily schools, boarding schools, international schools, tahfiz centres and other primary, secondary and pre-university institutions. closure of all public and private higher education institutions (ipts) and skill training institutes. closure of all government and private premises except for essential services (water, electricity, energy, telecommunications, postal, transportation, irrigation, oil, gas, fuel, lubricants, broadcasting, finance, banking, health, pharmacy, fire, prison, port, airport, safety, defence, cleaning, retail and food supply). the order was originally to be in effect from 18 march to 31 march, but has been extended four times as additional two-week "phases" over the course of two months: phase 2, announced on 25 march, extends the mco to 14 april, as new cases continued to climb. phase 3, announced on 10 april, extends the mco to 28 april, as the number of cases was projected by the who to peak in mid-april. phase 4, announced on 23 april, extends the mco to 12 may. on 1 may, the malaysian government announced that it will be relaxing movement control order restrictions from 4 may as part of its plan to gradually restart the country's economy in three different phases, with public transportation services resuming on 4 may. as part of the fourth phase of the movement control order, two family members will be allowed to buy food and other daily essentials. the easing of mco drew criticisms from politicians and healthcare experts over concerns that it was too much too soon, and by 3 may, over 420,000 members of the public had signed a petition objecting to the conditional mco and calling for the government to stay with the mco. on 10 may, the conditional movement control order was extended until 9 june, the fourth extension since 18 march. unlike the others, this extension is scheduled to last about a month as phase 1 of the post-lockdown of the restrictions. on 6 june, the director-general confirmed that the movement control order would remain in force since malaysia is still being monitored under the prevention and control of infections diseases act 1988. on 7 june, prime minister muhyiddin yassin announced that the conditional movement control order would end on 9 june, with the country moving into the recovery movement control order (rmco) phase which would be implemented until 31 august 2020. on 28 august, prime minister muhyiddin yassin announced that the recovery movement control order would be extended until 31 december 2020. following the third wave, on 12 october, senior minister (security cluster) datuk seri ismail sabri yaakob announced that the government has agreed to enforce conditional movement control order (cmco) in selangor, kuala lumpur and putrajaya effective from 12.01 am on 14 october to 27 october 2020. on 20 october, employees in the private and public sectors, at the management and supervisory levels, in areas under the conditional movement control order (cmco) which are kuala lumpur, putrajaya, selangor, labuan and sabah had been instructed to work from home starting thursday, 22 october. on 7 november, senior minister ismail sabri yaakob announced that the malaysian government would be reinstating its cmco throughout peninsular malaysia with the exception of kelantan, perlis, and pahang between 9 november and 6 december 2020. in addition, cmco measures for sabah, selangor, kuala lumpur, and putrajaya, which were scheduled to end on 9 november, were extended until 6 december. since 21 november 2020, the government gradually reimposed relaxed rmco restrictions for most states except for some which would extend their cmco until 14 january 2021. 2021 on new year's day of 2021, senior minister ismail sabri yaakob announced that the government had extended rmco to 31 march 2021 as the daily new cases remain high. on 11 january, prime minister muhyiddin yassin reimposed mco restrictions on mobility, economic activities, and public gatherings in the states of malacca, johor, penang, selangor, sabah and the federal territories of kuala lumpur, putrajaya, and labuan between 13 and 26 january 2021 due to an ongoing surge of cases and deaths. on 2 february, senior minister ismail sabri yaakob extended mco restrictions in all states except sarawak from 5 to 18 february 2021. on 16 february, senior minister ismail sabri yaakob announced that the government would extend the mco for selangor, johor, penang and kuala lumpur until 4 march 2021. meanwhile, kedah, perak, negeri sembilan, terengganu, kelantan, melaka, pahang and sabah as well as the federal territories of putrajaya and labuan transitioned back into the conditional movement control order (cmco) from 19 february 2021. on 5 march, selangor, johor, penang and kuala lumpur exited the movement control order lockdown and entered the conditional movement control order (cmco). in early may, the malaysian government reinstated movement control order (mco) restrictions in johor, kuala lumpur, penang, sarawak, and selangor in response to a spike in covid-19 cases. schools were closed and social and religious activities were banned. while some economic activities were allowed, eateries can only provide delivery and takeaway services. a nationwide mco lockdown will be reinstated from 12 may to 7 june. dining in, social activities and shopping areas will be banned, although workers are allowed to go to work and come back home. inter-district and inter-state travel are banned. a nationwide "total lockdown" will be imposed between 1 and 28 june for all social and economic sectors, with only essential social and economic activities being allowed to