Tokyo and seven prefectures -- Hokkaido, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, Aichi, Osaka and Hyogo -- all with large populations, accounted for around 80 per cent of the reported deaths in December as of Monday.

MOSTI said the government was also in final negotiations with Sinovac, CanSino and Gamaleya to boost its vaccine supply to cover more than 80% of the country's population or 26.5 million people

Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said all students and their guardians must comply with the standard operating procedures (SOPs) set, including undergoing a swab test three days prior to leaving for Malaysia as well as at the entry point, and undergo 10 days of quarantine at the quarantine centre.

The new cases raised Malaysia's cumulative confirmed Covid-19 infections to 97,389, from just 65,697 cases at end-November.

Singapore Airlines: The delivery of this first batch of COVID-19 vaccines to Singapore is an important milestone in the fight against Covid-19, and we are honoured to be able to play a part in this

Federal Territories Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa said that such an initiative is meant to “spur economic growth in the city and in turn, encourage job creation”.

To address the spread of the pandemic

The Prime Minister said it would be followed by the frontliners, before being given to target groups, namely high-risk groups such as the elderly, those with non-communicable diseases and chronic respiratory diseases.

US President-elect Joe Biden: I am doing this to demonstrate that people should be prepared, when it's available, to take the vaccine.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department (Economy) Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed: There are concerns about a fourth wave of the Covid-19 virus and at the same time, we hope that it will subside with the availability of vaccines.