Sarawak denies entry to China students over virus threat

Precautions are being taken to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

KUCHING: The Sarawak government has temporarily stopped China students from entering the state in view of the coronavirus outbreak.

Sarawak state disaster management committee (JPBN) said in a statement that the order would be effective until further notice.

Besides that, it also said government officials who had travelled to China during the outbreak must undergo self-quarantine at home and seek further advice from their heads of department on the next course of action.

“Employers who have workers from China or those who just returned from China are advised to inform their employees to undergo self-quarantine at home.

“Schoolchildren who have been to China, especially to Wuhan and Hubei province, are advised to undergo self-quarantine at home,” the statement said.

It said those who had visited China recently should seek medical assistance at the nearest government hospital if they developed symptoms such as coughs and fever.

On Tuesday, the health ministry released a list of 26 hospitals that would serve as referral hospitals to handle cases of patients under investigation (PUI) and those confirmed with the Wuhan coronavirus.

In Sarawak, the hospitals are the Sarawak General Hospital in Kuching, Miri Hospital, Bintulu Hospital and Sibu Hospital.

Yesterday, JPBN chairman Douglas Uggah Embas said so far, eight Wuhan coronavirus cases had been suspected in Sarawak — five in Kuching as well as one each in Sibu, Miri and Bintulu.

However, six of these cases have tested negative while the other two cases in Miri and Kuching are still pending laboratory results. - FMT