Members of a navy team that have been working in China are free from the novel coronavirus, the Royal Malaysian Navy’s (RMN) strategic communications team said today.

In 2017, the government signed a deal to procure four littoral mission ships (LMS) from Boustead Naval Shipyard, which are now being built in Wuhan.

Wuhan is believed to be ground zero for the novel coronavirus, which has killed 170 people thus far.

The navy has a 12-member team that has been monitoring the progress of the ships' construction since July 2017, while a unit of 45 has been in Shanghai since November last year for training and to pilot the ships back to Malaysia this April.

Of the 57 RMN personnel, 42 had returned to Malaysia for Chinese New Year holidays, while the navy is arranging to bring back the remaining 15 who are in Shanghai.

"Thus far, there has been no infection of the new coronavirus involving navy personnel," it said.

The navy said it was keeping a close eye on the situation and hoped there would be no fake news on the matter.