The country has closed its borders and restricted internal movement by shutting schools and businesses from Wednesday until March 31, after its tally of infections climbed to the highest in Southeast Asia, at 790 cases and two deaths. Closure of palm plantations as a part of the measures earlier had caused concerns among top importers, including India. Malaysian palm oil futures jumped 5 per cent in early trade on supply concerns after plantations were forced to shut operations. Palm futures prices also rose in China and India. Palm oil analysts had estimated that Malaysia’s crude palm production would drop by 350,000-700,000 tonnes for the month of March due to the harvest pause, potentially cutting March inventories to 1.0-1.3 million tonnes.