M'sia confirms first three cases of coronavirus
CORONAVIRUS | The Health Ministry has detected the first set of positive cases of the new coronavirus in the country, the Health Minister announced this morning.
Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad (photo) said three people had been tested positive with the virus by the ministry's laboratory last night.
CORONAVIRUS | The Health Ministry has detected the first set of positive cases of the new coronavirus in the country, its minister announced in the capital this morning.
Dzulkefly Ahmad (photo) said three people had been tested positive for the virus by the ministry's laboratory last night.
He told a press conference that the three patients are related to a son and father pair from Wuhan, China, who had been tested positive for the virus in Singapore three days ago.
"The three positive cases are the wife of a 66-year-old man tested positive in Singapore on Jan 22, and their two grandchildren aged 11 and 2.
"They travelled in a group of 10 from Wuhan after which the two men were warded and tested positive in Singapore. Following this, the eight others who did not show any symptoms were released by the Singapore Health Ministry and they came to Johor Bahru on Jan 23.
"We were alerted by Singapore and immediately located the eight and isolated them for screening," Dzulkefly told the press conference.
According to him, results of the tests on the eight returned late last night and health authorities had taken the children and their grandmother to the Sungai Buloh Hospital where they were admitted to an isolation ward.
The children's mother, aged 36, was tested negative but was also taken to the hospital where she is now taking care of her children under strict supervision and personal protective equipment rules.
Dzulkefly said four other travellers tested negative for the "2019-nCoV" were a couple and their two children and they had left the country this morning to return to China.
Another pending case in HKL
Meanwhile, asked if the ministry had data on the numbers of visitors from Wuhan who are in Malaysia or those who had visited the capital of the Hubei province recently, the minister said they would have to liaise with the Immigration Department.
He said they, however, had data on those who had recently visited Wuhan and who had sought treatment at hospitals in the country.
According to Dzulkefly, since Jan 22, they have found 11 cases of suspected 2019-nCov cases in the country but 10 had been confirmed as negative.
Those tested negative were seven Malaysians who recently travelled to China, two China nationals from Wuhan and a Jordanian.
"The one whose test result is still pending is a Malaysian, who had recently travelled to China.
"He is now warded at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital," he said.
Dzulkefly, however, did not provide further details of the identity of the person suspected of the novel coronavirus but promised to update the media from time to time.
Related reports:
PM: No plan to review visa exemption for Chinese tourists
Health Ministry mulls over possibility of restricting Chinese arrivals
Minister to state health excos: 'Refrain from commenting on new coronavirus'
Gov't activates rapid response teams with detection of new coronavirus
China virus death toll rises to 41, more than 1,300 infected worldwide
Report this comment
Are you sure you want to delete this comment?
This action cannot be undone.