The Health Ministry today insisted there is no local transmission of the deadly Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) in Sarawak just as it announced 75 more Sarawakians have been placed under quarantine yesterday.

Ministry's deputy director-general Dr Mohd Ismail Merican in his daily briefing o­n Sars claimed Sarawak did not show any indication of local transmission, even as two deaths could be due to Sars and 760 people in the state being quarantined were reported.

Establish links

Elaborating, Mohd Ismail conceded that he was puzzled by the situation in Sarawak but pledged that the ministry would do its utmost to contain the outbreak in the state.

"(The state) does not have indication of local transmission...the mental patients never leave the hospital and definitely they have not gone to any Sars-highly affected countries".

"We are trying to establish links with the visitors but we do not have all their documents," he said.

Two inmates from the Sentosa Mental Hospital in Kuching died over the past week. They were transferred to the Sarawak General Hospital and placed in the Sars-dedicated wards after showing Sars symptoms.

The ministry is waiting for the post-mortem reports o­n the deaths.

The two deaths resulted in a quarantine order involving 423 health care providers and 337 patients from the two hospitals as of yesterday. The mental hospital, with the female and male medical wards in Sarawak General Hospital, have been sealed off for 10 days.

Mohd Ismail also disagreed with press reports that the situation in Sarawak was getting worse.

"It's good to quarantine and protect them, at least they feel safer as they are being monitored by us," he said.

If indeed it is a local transmission, Malaysia could be put o­n the World Health Organisation's list of "Sars-highly affected country".

According to Mohd Ismail, currently there are six countries o­n the list - China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Canada and the newly listed Mongolia.

The reasons for the United Kingdom and United States being withdrawn from the list are unknown as new Sars cases are still being reported in the two countries, Mohd Ismail added.

WHO had issued an advisory to travellers to avoid visiting three countries o­n the list - China, Hong Kong and Canada, but it announced o­n Tuesday that the advisory against Canada has been lifted.

Mohd Ismail also said the plan to quarantine about 20,000 Sarawakians working in Sars hot spots upon their return for the Gawai celebration in June will be discussed at next Wednesday's cabinet meeting.

"The Health Ministry is very clear about its responsibilities but we are also aware that, besides advising the people, certain quarters also want us to impose more conditions.

"Our advice is not to cause unnecessary inconvenience and burden to the people. As long as everyone do their part and screening is properly conducted at airports and other entry points, things should be ok ," Mohd Ismail stressed.

The Sarawak government had reportedly said that Sarawakians returning from Sars-affected countries may have to undergo compulsory quarantine.

Daily updates

Meanwhile, up till yesterday, the ministry has received nine notification Sars cases, four of them suspected for Sars.

All nine have been isolated in designated hospitals nationwide. With seven releases yesterday, the number of isolation now is 29, a slight increase from 27 two days before.

Of the 29, o­ne is a probable Sars case, ten suspected cases and 13 notifications while another five are pending.

Number for quarantine jumped from 782 two days ago to 857 as an additional 75 people have been quarantined in Sarawak yesterday.

Of the total, 760 are in Sarawak, while 29 others are connected to the sixth probable patient in Penang hospital and 68 linked to a 49-year-old port worker in Penang. The latter was warded at Penang hospital after developing Sars symptoms but he has yet to be classified as a Sars patient..

According to WHO's latest figure, 5,865 Sars cases have been reported in 30 countries, with 391 deaths.