KUALA LUMPUR, May 21 — The federal government will be announcing stricter SOPs for the economic and social sectors tomorrow as Malaysia buckles under soaring Covid-19 infections.

In a statement this evening, the Prime Minister’s Office said the National Security Council met today and concluded that further action is needed to stop the worrying rise of Covid-19 nationwide.

"We have tightened SOPs for the current movement control order (MCO) 3.0 effecting since May 12, including banning interstate and inter-district travel, sporting and recreational activities as well as conference and face-to-face meetings.

"Despite that, the virus is continuing to spread within the community with new more aggressive variants with a high infectivity rate delaying efforts to curb the spread. Taking into consideration all the discussions in the meeting today we wholeheartedly agreed to add more restrictions to the economic and social sectors.

"The special meeting also includes state governments and their efforts to curb the spread.

"Details regarding the additional restrictions will be announced by the defence minister tomorrow, May 22, 2021,” the statement read.

Malaysia added another 50 deaths today bringing the toll to 643 to date. Cases in Selangor continue to spike with the number of positive cases more than 6,000 per day this past week.

A government source told Malay Mail that while the SOPs on social and some economic activities will be tightened, the government felt that the economy must be allowed to function.

The source also said the government cannot allow the economy to collapse as this would result in massive job losses.