Health Ministry today claimed the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) outbreak in Malaysia was "under control", while the details of the guideline o­n who needs to mask up will be released tomorrow.

In his daily briefing, deputy director-general Dr Mohd Ismail Merican said the situation was under control despite three probable Sars cases with o­ne death being recorded.

The ministry has been giving daily briefings o­n Sars since last week.

New category

Mohd Ismail revealed that 17 notified cases were reported yesterday, out of which 10 have been hospitalised.

His announcement appeared to have confused many reporters at the briefing today as this was the first time the ministry introduced the "notification" category.

He explained that notification cases are those who have developed Sars symptoms such as high fever and cough, but need not necessarily be warded. Admission to hospitals is at the discretion of medical officers.

Of the 10 warded yesterday, four are treated as suspected Sars patients; two in Ipoh and o­ne each in Kuala Lumpur and Kelantan.

With this new category, the ministry has now classified Sars cases into notified, suspected and probable cases.

Suspected cases, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO) definition, are patients with Sars symptoms, have close contact with probable Sars patients and have travelled to highly-affected Sars country.

A probable case is a suspected case with chest X-ray findings of pneumonia or Respiratory Distress Syndrome.

Mohd Ismail explained that to ward a notified patient who is likely to be labeled as a "non-Sars patient" later is just a preventive measure for the ministry to closely monitor the patient.

He added that "non-Sars patients" are also placed in the isolation ward and that all categories of Sars cases are put in different rooms.

Eight isolated in Kedah

Twenty-seven people - both suspected and notification cases - are under isolation ( see chart ) in designated hospitals nationwide as of yesterday, Mohd Ismail said.

Kedah topped the list (8), followed by Perak (7), Selangor (4), Kelantan (3) and Terengganu (2), with Penang, Kuala Lumpur and Johor registering o­ne each. All are Malaysians.

Mohd Ismail said the toll as of yesterday is 135 notified cases, 17 of them foreigners. Forty were suspected cases (one foreigner) and three, probable.

However, o­nly 27 are currently under isolation while the rest have been discharged.

Asked o­n the latest status of the third probable Sars patient revealed yesterday, Mohd Ismail said the 26-year-old Chinese Malaysian in Penang is showing signs of recovering.

"His family members are under home quarantine and are healthy as well," the deputy director-general said.

On the guideline o­n "who, when and where" to wear respiratory masks to contain the disease, Mohd Ismail said the details would be made public tomorrow during his daily briefing at Hospital Kuala Lumpur.

"At this moment, we are not encouraging everybody to wear masks," he said.

Don't spread rumours

Questioned o­n media reports today quoting state health department officials in Kedah and Sarawak as saying that two foreigners have been warded and another two suspected patients placed under isolation in the two states respectively, Mohd Ismail urged the public not to listen to "rumours".

"Do not listen to anybody except three people (minister, director-general and his deputy). If you believe in rumours, we are all in trouble."

The ministry also released the composition of the 135 "notification" cases which have been reported so far.

Most belonged to the 18 to 50 age group. Eighty-seven percent are Malaysians while others are mostly Vietnamese.

The Malaysians were all found to have visited Sars-affected country, mostly China, followed by Singapore and Vietnam . ( see chart )

Chinese Malaysians made up 44 percent of the toll, followed by Malay Malaysians (37 percent) and Indian Malaysians (9 percent).

According to WHO latest figures, 2,722 Sars cases have been reported with 106 deaths. Nineteen countries including Malaysia are o­n the affected list.