KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia reported 126 deaths from the coronavirus on Wednesday, the highest daily toll since the start of the pandemic.

The Southeast Asian nation is seeing a surge in COVID-19 cases, partly due to more infectious variants, and has imposed stricter lockdown measures that have shut down non-essential businesses. 

It was the highest number of coronavirus deaths in Malaysia since the 98 fatalities announced on Saturday, when a record 9,020 cases were also reported.

Authorities reported 7,703 new cases on Wednesday.

Total number of infections are at 587,165, with fatalities at 2,993.

Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on Monday announced an additional 40 billion ringgit ($9.70 billion) aid package, ahead of the tighter measures that came into effect this week.

($1 = 4.1230 ringgit)

(Reporting by A. Ananthalakshmi; Editing by Himani Sarkar, Martin Petty) ((ananthalakshmi.as@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter: @AnanthalakshmiA;))