Virology expert and director of Tropical Infectious Diseases Research and Education Centre, University of Malaya Prof Dr Sazaly Abu Bakar: This is because the vaccine is effective in preventing the individual from experiencing a more serious effect of the infection but that does not mean that the person cannot be a carrier of the virus.

State Health director Datuk Dr Aman Rabu said four factories were also fined RM1,000 each for flouting the SOPs, including failing to conduct sanitisation operations, and not practising physical distancing at the workplace.

Tokyo and seven prefectures -- Hokkaido, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, Aichi, Osaka and Hyogo -- all with large populations, accounted for around 80 per cent of the reported deaths in December as of Monday.

MOSTI said the government was also in final negotiations with Sinovac, CanSino and Gamaleya to boost its vaccine supply to cover more than 80% of the country's population or 26.5 million people

Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said all students and their guardians must comply with the standard operating procedures (SOPs) set, including undergoing a swab test three days prior to leaving for Malaysia as well as at the entry point, and undergo 10 days of quarantine at the quarantine centre.

The new cases raised Malaysia's cumulative confirmed Covid-19 infections to 97,389, from just 65,697 cases at end-November.

Singapore Airlines: The delivery of this first batch of COVID-19 vaccines to Singapore is an important milestone in the fight against Covid-19, and we are honoured to be able to play a part in this

Federal Territories Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa said that such an initiative is meant to “spur economic growth in the city and in turn, encourage job creation”.

To address the spread of the pandemic

The Prime Minister said it would be followed by the frontliners, before being given to target groups, namely high-risk groups such as the elderly, those with non-communicable diseases and chronic respiratory diseases.