US President-elect Joe Biden: I am doing this to demonstrate that people should be prepared, when it's available, to take the vaccine.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Economy) Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed: There are concerns about a fourth wave of the Covid-19 virus and at the same time, we hope that it will subside with the availability of vaccines.

Selangor Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari said the state health department is currently looking into the best mechanism for the purpose, apart from implementing targeted screening to reduce risk of transmission at the hospital.

This means that while countries like Britain, the US and Canada have already approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and are now carrying out vaccination exercises on their citizens, Malaysians, from the looks of it, will need to wait at least a few more months before anyone can get their shots.

They include consumer electronics player Panasonic Manufacturing Malaysia Bhd, condom manufacturer Karex Bhd, and electronics manufacturing service provider ATA IMS Bhd.

Following this surge of new cases, the current number of active cases — meaning those who carry high transmission risks — breached the 16,000 mark for the first time with 16,496.

The move would affect  771 people comprising 603 detainees and 168 staff as well as their family members.

 While Malaysia is on the path towards economic recovery, containing the COVID-19 pandemic and protecting the most vulnerable must remain the country’s topmost priorities over the near term.

Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa revealed recently that as part of this plan, price of affordable homes there would be “lowered from the current RM300,000 to RM200,000 and below” so as to attract “younger buyers earning less than RM4,000 a month”.

The Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) has urged construction industry players to comply with instructions and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) issued by the National Security Council (MKN), following the surge in COVID-19 cases at construction sites.