Health DG confirms Malaysia’s eighth Wuhan virus patient quarantined in Johor

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All the 2019-nCoV positive cases are China nationals. Bernama File Photo

KUCHING: The Health Ministry has today confirmed that a China national in Johor has contracted the Wuhan coronavirus (2019-nCoV), bringing the number of positive cases in Malaysia to eight.

Health Director General Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the 49-year-year old patient, who is quarantined in Johor’s Hospital Permai and is in stable condition, is the wife of another China national, who yesterday became the seventh confirmed case in the country.

“All the 2019-nCoV positive cases are China nationals,” he said in a statement, adding that the woman was among people categorised in the “close contact” group.

Dr Noor Hisham said from January 10 until yesterday, there were 89 cases of patients-under-investigation (PUI) for the novel coronavirus, consisting of Malaysians (44), China nationals (42) and one each from Jordan, Brazil and Thailand.

Pointing out that three PUI who tested positive are now warded at Hospital Permai (2) and Langkawi’s Hospital Sultanah Maliha, he said 81 have tested negative and five were still awaiting results of laboratory tests.

Dr Noor Hisham said 32 patients in the group of close contacts of positive cases had been identified and have been placed under a quarantine order under the supervision of the Health Ministry.

He said other than the five that had been found positive, lab tests on the remaining 27 were negative for the virus.