Six more Malaysians were infected by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars), but none of the cases were transmitted between locals, said the Health Ministry today.

Ministry deputy director-general Dr Mohd Ismail Merican ( photo ) said while this showed that Malaysia was a "safe country to be visited", he was concerned with the rise in Sars cases in Singapore.

"All I can say is that Malaysia seems to be aware of what it should do. Our side is doing the job well but the huge amount of traffic between the two countries is a problem," he said.

Half of the six persons showing Sars symptoms recently returned from Singapore. Five have been classified as suspected cases while the remaining o­ne has yet to be categorised.

Suspected cases

The five suspected cases are:

1) A lorry driver, 34, from Kedah, who was in Singapore for delivery of computers;

2) A wholesale merchant, 30, from Kelantan, who was working at the Pasir Panjang wholesale centre Singapore's largest distribution centre for fruits and vegetables for two months before returning to his hometown last week. He was said to have developed Sars symptoms while in Singapore. Before returning to Kelantan, he was in Johor for a day;

3) A man, 34, who has been staying in Singapore for 13 years as a permanent resident. He returned to Perak early this month and showed signs of the disease two weeks later;

4) A man, 45, from Kuala Lumpur, who visited Shanghai, China from April 10 to 13 and fell sick last week; and

5) An air stewardess, 33, from Negeri Sembilan, who had flown to Taiwan and London before she fell sick o­n Sunday.

Mohd Ismail said tests are pending o­n a 44-year-old security guard from Shah Alam who had come into contact with Singaporean lorry drivers in his neighbourbood over the past few weeks. Several of the drivers were said to be down with fever and coughs.

"We believe we can trace the drivers and o­nce we are done, we will decide which category the case belongs to.

"From this case, you can see what is happening. How did the drivers manage to get across the border?" he told a daily briefing at the ministry this afternoon.

Singapore has recorded a total of 184 cases of Sars to date, and 16 of those have died.

One Sars case less

As at 6pm yesterday, there have been 250 notification cases since March 18. However, o­nly 19, including the six new cases, are isolated in hospital wards, revealed Mohd Ismail.

The previous day's figure was 17.

The total number of probable cases was down from six to five as o­ne of them have been found to have been suffering from pneumonia.

The man, a 26-year-old Kulim resident, has been discharged, said Mohd Ismail.

"He responded very well to antibiotics and he was discharged two days ago.... It was a bacterial pneumonia so his case was discarded from the total of probable Sars cases," he said.

Two people have died of Sars in the country. The remaining three probable Sars patients are still isolated in designated hospitals.

Mohd Ismail said o­ne of the two persons whose death was suspected to be caused by Sars last week a 65-year-old man who died at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital o­n April 15 was found to have died with a heart attack as three of his blood vessels were blocked.

The report o­n the 37-year-old man who died at the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang o­n Apr 11 is yet to be completed.

On a related matter, he urged all public hospitals not to refer ordinary pneumonia patients to designated hospitals for Sars out of fear of the mystery disease.

"This should not be the case. I hope physicians and doctors do not shirk their responsibilities. Don't turn away the patients. Please manage them (pneumonia patients) in your hospital or else it will stress the designated hospitals," he said.

The number of those quarantined at home is down from 17 to six. The six are expected to be free of quarantine tomorrow.

Tribute to medical staff

Mohd Ismail also thanked all medical staff at the designated hospitals.

"I wish to pay a tribute to the medical teams in isolation wards. They are taxed and stressed, but they continue o­n with their duties," he said.

He also urged traditional medicine practitioners to take precaution when they are approached by patients with Sars symptoms.

The practitioners should be vigilant and should advise the patients to go to designated hospitals, he added.

Mohd Ismail said the national committee to tackle Sars has finished its preliminary evaluation o­n the new coronavirus diagnostic kit created by the Hamburg-based biotech company Artus.

"Our evaluation shows that if you use fresh sputum specimen, it will increase the sensitivity of the kit and give more yield in the result. If you use other specimens, the result is not satisfactory," he said.

In view of this, the national committee and Artus will cooperate to standardise the protocol to extract specimen from patients and to share important information with other laboratories in the region which are also testing the efficiency of the kit, he said.