He warned that some countries had seen an increase in Covid-19 cases when quarantine measures were eased and said some businesses – including cinemas, karaoke joints, clubs and conferences or exhibitions – would still not be allowed to operate.

Under the relaxed movement control order, interstate travel remained banned, said Muhyddin, meaning that Malaysians would not be able to travel to their hometowns for the Eid celebrations at the end of May.

“We must find ways to balance between healing the nation’s economy and addressing Covid-19,” said Muhyiddin, adding that stringent health standards would be implemented, such as social distancing for people dining-in at restaurants.

Originally, the lockdown had been scheduled to last until May 12.

While Malaysia had at one point been the worst-hit nation in the region its outlook has been improving in recent days with the number of recoveries rising steadily and its mortality rate staying below two per cent with 100 deaths. It currently has more than 6,000 infections.

The lockdown, announced in mid-March, helped slow the spread of the disease. However the government last week said it was estimating daily losses of 2.4 billion ringgit (US$550 million) while businesses remained closed.

The Malaysian Institute of Economic Research on April 25 estimated around 2.4 million Malaysians could lose their jobs if the lockdown was extended.

Sharifa Ezat Wan Puteh, a public health academic and member of the Malaysian Health Coalition, said that relaxing measures would be “a difficult path to tread” and going forward numbers would have to be even more closely monitored.

“We have done many things right – the movement control order, social distancing, rigorous contact tracing and follow up, quarantine and self isolation, placing asymptomatic patients in hospitals and so on,” said Sharifa. Now, to keep things under control with Eid around the corner the government had to stick to its guns regarding gatherings and travel, Sharifa said.

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Political economist Terence Gomez criticised what he saw as a sudden lifting of the rules, asking why there had been “a sudden U-turn”.

“Why allow practically all sectors of economy to return to work? Why not stagger them, with a focus on essential areas? Why such short notice of the new guidelines? Why is there no notice to allow employers to plan things such as staggered working hours, with some working from home, and child care for the kids of employees since schools will remain closed?”

Analyst Calvin Cheng, of Malaysia’s Institute of Strategic & International Studies, cautioned against “tilting the scale too much towards rapid reopening of the economy”, warning there would be public health consequences if social distancing measures were not respected.

“However, much of the economic damage has already been done, the latest data suggest the impacts of the pandemic and the lockdown on the Malaysian economy and on Malaysian workers have been dire,” said Cheng.

“Reopening or not, we need to concentrate on crafting a strategy sooner rather than later, whilst still respecting social distancing requirements until a vaccine or mass testing capacity is available. This will have to involve even greater government spending to kick-start the economy in the shorter-term, along with longer-term efforts to build resilience in the Malaysian economy to future crises.”