KUALA LUMPUR: The new Malaysian Prime Minister missed his new government oath ceremony on Monday after a contact with someone infected with Covid-19, his office said.
Ismail Sabri Yaakob has begun to isolate itself and virtually attend the official national day celebration Tuesday, according to a statement from his office.
It didn’t say who he had touched, was he tested and how long he would remain in self isolation.
Ismail served August 21 amid public anger for the previous government’s failure to control a raging pandemic.
The everyday case has surged above 20,000 since August 5, with a total infection exceeding 1.7 million.
Vaccination moves quickly, with 62% adult population fully inoculated.
His predecessor, Muhyiddin Yassin, resigned on August 16 after less than 18 months in the office as a dispute in his coalition swallowed the majority costs in parliament.
Ismail, 61, is Deputy Muhyiddin, and his appointment to lead the government by the King of Malaysia basically returns the same coalition as power.
It also returned the Premiership to Ismail Party, United Malay’s national organization, who has led the country since the independence from England in 1957 but was overthrown in the 2018 election amid a multibilion dollar financial scandal.
Ismail has been criticized most of the ministers who reappeared from the previous cabinet who failed to curb a pandemic despite seven months of emergency and kuncian since June.
As many as 31 ministers and 38 deputy ministers took their office oath at the palace Monday.
Ismail did not mention the name of the representative but maintained four senior minister posts created by Muhyiddin to maintain factions in the majority of the majority government.
However, many people clapped to postpone the former Minister of Science Popular Khairy Jamaluddin _ responsible for vaccination programs _ as new health ministers.
Malaysia’s death confirmed from Covid-19 has increased above 16,000.