CORONAVIRUS | Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham said today a local woman, aged 53, with recent travel history to Japan, was confirmed as the country’s latest case, bringing the total number of infections to 23.

He said the patient who had returned from Japan on Feb 23 and exhibited symptoms of the virus the next day, was being treated at a hospital in Kuala Lumpur.

Meanwhile, two women from China and the United States have made a full recovery from Covid-19 and were discharged from the hospital today, bringing the total number of recoveries to 22.

In a statement, Dr Noor Hisham said both women, who were the 16th and 22nd cases respectively, had been treated at Kuala Lumpur Hospital and Sungai Buloh Hospital.

An American woman who was tested positive twice on 15 February and she was treated has recovered fully and discharged.

On another matter, the director-general said laboratory tests on 66 people who were evacuated from Wuhan, China, and brought back to Malaysia yesterday, had returned negative.

The evacuees have been placed under quarantine for 14 days at an observation centre, said Dr Noor Hisham.

He added that until today, a total of 1,570 people had been tested for Covid-19. The individuals comprised of Patients-under-Investigation (PUI), close contacts, evacuees from China, and those onboard the Dream World cruise ship.

Of this number, 23 had confirmed positive while the results for 23 others were pending. — Bernama