Lim said the number of deaths involving Malaysians – 4,637 – had gone beyond China’s toll of 4,636, “despite (China) having a population of 1.4 billion against Malaysia’s 32 million”.

In a statement today, he said Malaysia had also overtaken China in the number of confirmed cases – 711,006 – against China’s 91,653.

“Is this what the prime minister’s Covid-19 national recovery plan is all about?” he asked.

The plan announced by Muhyiddin Yassin on June 15 involves four phases of recovery. The first is the ongoing lockdown enforced from June 1 until next Monday.

This is followed by the second phase, when there are fewer than 4,000 new daily cases, 10% of the population is vaccinated and the bed utilisation at intensive care units (ICUs) falls below 75%.

“It would appear none of the three conditions will be met by the end of the month,” the Iskandar Puteri MP said. Yesterday, 879 people were still in ICUs.

Lim asked if there were enough beds in ICUs, citing reports of an ambulance refusing to transport a patient with breathing difficulties.

He also said health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah’s previous caution that utilisation of ICU beds had surpassed 100% was alarming.