Malaysia confirms first coronavirus cases

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.

He told a press conference that the three patients are related to the son and father from Wuhan, China, who had been tested positive with 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, before the two men were warded and tested positive in Singapore. Following this, the eight others who did not show any symptom were released by the Singapore Health Ministry (KKS) and they came to Johor Bahru on Jan 23.

"We were alerted by KKS and immediately located the eight, and isolated them for screening," Dzulkefly told the press.

According to him, results from 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 are admitted into 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 the kids under strict supervision and personal protective equipment rules.

Dzulkefly said the four other travellers tested negative with 2019-nCoV are 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 has the data on numbers of visitors from Wuhan who are in Malaysia, or those who had visited the capital of Hubei province recently, the minister said they would have to liaise with the Immigration Department.

He said they, however, have data on those who had recently visited Wuhan who 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 are 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 being 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. - Mkini