Southeast Asian countries considered more emergency powers on Monday to tackle the threat of the virus as the biggest daily jump in cases in Malaysia took the number of infections in the region above 4,000. The virus has killed nearly 100 people since the number of cases started to shoot up early this month. Nearly half the fatalities in Southeast Asia have been in Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous country. The Philippines has confirmed 33 deaths among 462 cases.
Malaysia reported 212 new cases, bringing the total to 1,518 - the highest for any Asian country after China, South Korea and Japan. The total number of infections across the region’s 10 countries reached 4,030.
