MALAYSIAN authorities have said they will open investigations into medics who walked out in a symbolic strike over pay and conditions today as the country comes under strain with a surge in coronavirus cases.

Exhausted doctors said they had no option, as hundreds joined picket lines at hospitals across the country in defiance of threats made by the government.

Spokesman for the striking medics Dr Mustapha Kamal Aziz said that many were working 36-hour shifts and were also filling in for colleagues who have contracted Covid-19.

“We are burnt out and exhausted,” he said, adding that the continuing uncertainty was likely to fuel an exodus, with doctors seeking alternative work.

Health Ministry spokesman Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah issued a warning to the medics before today’s action urging them not to join the walkout.

“Remember, many lives are on the line and the demonstration could affect their lives and even your career,” he said in an ominous statement.

But Dr Kamal dismissed the claims and said there was no risk to patients. “This walkout is symbolic — to show we mean business,” he said.

Police in Kuala Lumpur dispersed medics from the city’s main general hospital and later said they would start investigating some of those involved in the action, organisers said.

The country’s health services are becoming overstretched as they struggle to deal with the pandemic. Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin declared a state of emergency on Sunday with a surge in coronavirus cases bringing the country to “breaking point.”

A record 17,045 cases and 92 deaths were reported on Sunday with patients being treated in hospital corridors and people waiting for hours at Covid assessment centres.

It brought the country’s total coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic to above one million. Just 16.9 per cent of the population are fully vaccinated.