Due to pandemic fears, the first meeting of Malaysia’s parliament under new Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has been postponed until mid-September.
Ismail Sabri, who is in his second week in office, has been placed on a two-week quarantine after being exposed to the Coronavirus.
The rescheduled session was set to take place from September 12 to October 13, with two additional days of debate.
Lim Guan Eng, the head of the opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP), said the incoming premier, who is thought to have a four-seat legislative majority, should face a confidence vote once the house reconvenes.
Sabri took over when Muhyiddin Yassin resigned earlier this month, just days before a scheduled confidence vote, after at least ten legislators stated they would vote against him, ensuring his demise.
Muhyiddin was thrown out in part as a result of charges that his government failed to control the pandemic despite imposing limitations such as a ban on parliament meetings from January to July.
On Tuesday, Malaysia’s Health Ministry reported about 21,000 new cases of the virus, nearly five times the amount reported in May, when a third pandemic lockdown was enforced.
On Monday, the government announced that 295 people had died as a result of the illness.
Due to his quarantine, Sabri was unable to attend Tuesday’s festivities commemorating Malaysia’s 1957 independence from the United Kingdom.
In a speech delivered electronically to those in attendance, Malaysia’s new prime minister urged Malaysians to be “more caring,” claiming that this would help “break the COVID-19 chain.”