KUALA LUMPUR— Malaysia's new prime minister missed
the inauguration of his own cabinet Monday after coming into contact with
someone infected with the coronavirus and being forced to self-isolate, his
office said.
اضافة اعلان
Ismail Sabri Yaakob's ministers headed to the national
palace for a swearing-in ceremony before the king, two weeks after the previous
government collapsed during infighting.
But Ismail Sabri — himself inaugurated earlier this month —
had to skip the occasion after the virus contact, his office said in a
statement, without giving further details.
He will also have to virtually join celebrations Tuesday to
mark Malaysia's National Day.
The new cabinet mainly compromises ministers from the
previous government, prompting concerns they will be no better at combatting a
fierce
COVID-19 wave than their widely criticized predecessors.
Ismail Sabri was appointed by the king after Muhyiddin
Yassin quit when he lost his parliamentary majority, and during growing public
anger at the government's pandemic response.
He has reclaimed the premiership for scandal-plagued party
the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), three years after they lost it
at landmark elections.
Malaysia has been hit hard by the highly contagious Delta
variant, reporting around 20,000 cases a day in recent weeks as well as
hundreds of deaths.
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