The Health Ministry has downplayed the need for public disclosure on areas Malaysia’s first Zika patient had visited upon her return from Singapore on Aug 21 as it may cause panic.

The Sunday Mail today quoted the ministry’s disease control division director, Dr Chong Chee Keong, who said the public should not worry about exposure to the virus as assessments of the situation and prevention exercises have been conducted.

"It is not that we are keeping the public in the dark, but it is unnecessary to cause alarm.

"After the illness had subsided and the virus was still active in the patient’s blood, she had only visited a few places," he was reported saying.

"The ministry has weighed all the risks. According to the date and location of her visits, we concluded that there was no need to reveal the said locations to prevent panic," he added.

Health Minister Dr S Subramaniam on Thursday announced the first suspected Zika case in Malaysia as involving a woman in Klang, Selangor.

The 58-year-old is the mother of a female patient infected with the virus in Singapore.

She displayed symptoms of a rash on Aug 28 and sought medical attention at a private clinic two days later, where the general practitioner diagnosed her with suspected Zika infection.

She had from Aug 21 to 28 also visited various areas in the district of Klang and Kuala Lumpur.

'Movement tracked'

Commenting further, Chong said the ministry has tracked the patient's footsteps before admission and reduced the status of some of the locations to risk-free areas based on the time of her visit.

“As we had gathered from dealing with dengue-carrying Aedes mosquitoes before, the feeding (time of carrier mosquitoes) is most intense around dawn and dusk.

“All visits the patient made during non-peak hours are discounted," he was reported telling the weekend edition of the English daily The Malay Mail.

On Saturday, the Health Ministry said it has received a report on the first locally-transmitted case of the Zika virus.

The victim is a 61-year-old Dusun male from Likas, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, who had no recent record of travelling abroad.

He died later the same day due to complications from his underlying heart condition.