PHOTO ESSAY | A year ago today, the first cases of Covid-19 were reported in Malaysia.
News had broken that a dangerous virus was killing hundreds of people in Wuhan, China and the first reported cases on Jan 25, 2020, involved three Chinese nationals who had entered via Johor from Singapore five days earlier.
Since that time, the virus has had an impact on the whole world with nearly 100 million cases reported and a global death toll that stands at approximately 2,131,000.
Malaysia has now reported a cumulative total of 183,801 cases and 678 deaths as of Jan 24. Today there are more than 40,000 active cases in the country.
The pandemic has taken its toll with unprecedented economic lockdowns and a record low second-quarter growth of -17.1 percent.
Early into the medical crisis, the Pakatan Harapan government fell apart due to internal schisms within PKR and Bersatu leading to Muhyiddin Yassin taking over as head of a coalition with a narrow and unproven majority.
Meanwhile, all around Malaysia, heroes emerged every day as the country was plunged into a relentless battle to flatten the curve and keep the number of new cases and fatalities down.
A year on, possible relief lies in the form of vaccines that are already being implemented in other countries and will soon reach Malaysia.
But for now, the country is under lockdown and in a state of emergency that may last until Aug 1 depending on how long the pandemic continues to rage.
Today we take a pictorial look back on a year that has impacted the country like no other.
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