Covid-19: Nine new cases, M'sia imposes travel ban on Denmark
CORONAVIRUS | Nine new Covid-19 cases have been detected in Malaysia, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 158.
Meanwhile, Malaysia has banned Danish citizens and travellers hailing from Denmark from entering its shores following the European nation’s move to place itself on lockdown to contain the spread of the virus.
CORONAVIRUS | Nine new Covid-19 cases have been detected in Malaysia, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 158.
Meanwhile, Malaysia has banned Danish citizens and travellers hailing from Denmark from entering its shores following the Scandinavian nation’s move to place itself on lockdown to contain the spread of the virus.
Health Ministry director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah (above) said the ministry has been able to trace all new cases to existing patients.
“Of the nine (new) cases, one is related to the first cluster, Case 26 and Case 33.
“And the rest are persons-under-investigation (PUI) as well as related to this new Case 131,” he said when door-stopped in Putrajaya this evening.
"Case 26" refers to Khazanah executive director and UDA Holdings chairperson Hisham Hamdam. Forty-four cases have been linked to him. He is presently being treated at the Hospital Sungai Buloh in Selangor.
"Case 33" is a 58-year-old Malaysian man who had direct contact with "Case 26". He is also being treated in Sungai Buloh.
"Case 131" is a 60-year-old Malaysian man who attended an international ijtima tabligh event at the Sri Petaling Mosque in Kuala Lumpur from Feb 28 to March 1. He is being treated at the Hospital Tengku Ampuan Afzan in Kuantan, Pahang.
"Case 131" was previously announced as a “sporadic” case. Hisham confirmed that Malaysia did not have any sporadic cases anymore after the ministry managed to trace the patient to the religious event.
The director-general also revealed that six patients have been discharged after recovering from Covid-19. In total, 32 patients have recovered from the virus in Malaysia.
Six states with Covid cases so far
As many as 10,000 people are said to have attended the religious event at the Sri Petaling Mosque, half of whom are Malaysians.
Hisham said the ministry was in the process of tracing the 5,000 local attendees and urged participants to report themselves to the ministry.
“They have already gone back to their respective states, we already have a few states that have reported (back) to us [...]
“The few states that have been involved are Sabah, Kuantan (Pahang), Johor Bahru ( Johor) and then Perak and Kota Bahru (Kelantan),” he said.
The Singapore Health Ministry also announced today that two Singaporean men have tested positive for Covid-19 after attending the Sri Petaling Mosque event.
Travel ban on Denmark
Earlier, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department for Special Functions Mohd Redzuan Yusof (above) announced a travel ban on Danish citizens and arrivals from Denmark.
The directive will be effective from March 14 to give Malaysia time to properly inform the Danish government.
He also said that Malaysians, Malaysian permanent residents and long-term pass holders who arrived from the country would not be banned, but be required to undergo a 14-day home quarantine.
“Malaysians are advised to postpone non-essential travel to Denmark to reduce the risk of contracting the virus when in that country,” Redzuan added.
Yesterday, Malaysia imposed a similar ban on citizens and arrivals from Italy, Iran and S Korea.
Meanwhile, the minister said the new Perikatan Nasional cabinet will discuss if there is a need to postpone major events like the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) 2020 meetings.
Redzuan addressed the media after members of the Covid-19 working committee met this afternoon.
Keep up with the latest information on the outbreak in the country with Malaysiakini's free Covid-19 tracker.
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