THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN MALAYSIA WAS A PART OF THE ONGOING WORLDWIDE PANDEMIC OF CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019 (COVID-19) CAUSED BY SEVERE ACUTE RESPIRATORY SYNDROME CORONAVIRUS 2 (SARS-COV-2). AS OF 10 FEBRUARY 2023, WITH OVER 5 MILLION CONFIRMED COVID-19 CASES, A HIGH OF APPROXIMATELY 323,000 ACTIVE CASES, NEARLY 40,000 DEATHS, AND OVER 66 MILLION TESTS, THE COUNTRY IS CURRENTLY RANKED THIRD IN THE NUMBER OF COVID-19 CASES IN SOUTHEAST ASIA BEHIND VIETNAM AND INDONESIA, AND FOURTH IN THE NUMBER OF COVID-19 DEATHS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA BEHIND INDONESIA, THE PHILIPPINES, AND VIETNAM.
SINCE JANUARY 2020, THE MEDICAL RESPONSE AND PREPAREDNESS FOR THE OUTBREAK IN MALAYSIA ARE OVERSEEN BY THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF HEALTH NOOR HISHAM ABDULLAH UNDER THE HEALTH MINISTRY OF FOUR SUCCESSIVE GOVERNMENTS LED BY THE MAHATHIR, MUHYIDDIN, ISMAIL SABRI AND ANWAR IBRAHIM CABINETS.THE FIRST CASES IN MALAYSIA WERE CONFIRMED AMONG TRAVELLERS FROM CHINA IN JOHOR VIA SINGAPORE ON 25 JANUARY 2020, AND CONTINUED TO BE LIMITED TO A FEW IMPORTED CASES UNTIL MARCH 2020, WHEN SEVERAL LOCAL CLUSTERS EMERGED. THE MOST NOTABLE WAS A TABLIGHI JAMAAT RELIGIOUS GATHERING IN SRI PETALING, KUALA LUMPUR THAT SPARKED A MASSIVE SPIKE IN LOCAL CASES AND IMPORTED CASES TO NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES. BY THE END OF MARCH, THE TOTAL NUMBER OF CASES HAD RISEN FROM BELOW 30 TO OVER 2,000 ACTIVE CASES ACROSS EVERY STATE AND FEDERAL TERRITORY IN THE COUNTRY.