Kula Lumpur, Feb 8 (IANS): Malaysia will not shut down its economic and industrial activities even if there was spike in new Covid-19 cases, Minister of International Trade and Industry Mohamed Azmin Ali said.

Previous lockdowns had caused 826,000 people to lose jobs in the first three months of the total lockdown in 2020, Xinhua news agency quoted Mohamed Azmin as saying.

"We can't do it anymore (total lockdown), yes, we need to manage this pandemic effectively, we will do our best on the health matter, but 'economic health' is also important. And we will now do it in a balanced way if there is a sudden spike (Covid-19)," he added.

Mohamed Azmin said his ministry will focus on getting the employees of the economic sector vaccinated.

Malaysia has seen a spike in fresh Covid-9 infections over the past week, with 13,944 new cases being reported on Tuesday alone, according to data from the Health Ministry, with the Omicron variant triggering the increase.