Streets are deserted and businesses are closed in Kuala Lumpur as Malaysia extends a strict virus lockdown indefinitely to curb the country’s growing Covid-19 outbreak. The lockdown which has closed most businesses and limited travel in the Southeast Asian nation was supposed to have ended nearly a month after it started in early June. But a regular spate of thousands of new Covid-19 infections every day have spurred the country’s government to press on with the strict curbs, with no specified end date in sight. Malaysia is seeing a relatively moderate outbreak of the virus, with a daily average of above 5,000 new virus cases and dozens of deaths as officials warned its healthcare system was in danger of being overwhelmed. Officials said the lockdown would only be eased should certain criteria be met including benchmarks of less than 4,000 daily infections and 10 per cent of the 33-million population fully vaccinated. pl/ IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES