The government will not implement a total lockdown to battle the Covid-19 pandemic as this would sound the death knell for the poor and small businesses.

On the contrary, Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the focus would be on the outbreaks at factories and construction sites, where large numbers of cases have been recorded.

He said the government had decided on this to strike a balance between lives and livelihoods although there were calls from various quarters to shut down the economic sector to curb the spike in Covid-19 cases.