Woman from Wuhan is latest coronavirus case in Malaysia

PUTRAJAYA: A 59-year-old woman from Wuhan is the latest positive case of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in Malaysia, bringing the country's tally to 15.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad (pic) said the woman was holidaying in Johor Baru with her husband, son and daughter-in-law.

They had arrived in Singapore on Jan 17 before travelling to Johor Baru on Jan 21.

"They were scheduled to fly home via a Johor Baru-Guangzhou flight on Feb 4.

"However, she was not feeling well and decided to stay and receive treatment.

"Her husband stayed back while her son and daughter-in-law proceeded to fly to Guangzhou as scheduled," said Dzulkefly at a press conference here on Friday (Feb 7).

Dzulkefly said the woman tested positive on Thursday (Feb 6) and is currently placed in an isolation ward at Hospital Permai in Johor Baru.

"The 66-year-old husband is also in an isolation ward at the same hospital. He has shown no symptoms, but samples have been taken from him and test results are still pending," said Dzulkefly.

He added that the ministry had conducted the necessary tracing to find people who had been in close contact with the patient.

"We have tracked the places she visited and also did contact tracing at her place of stay.

"However, the woman did not travel out much and stayed at her accommodation most of the time," said Dzulkefly.

Out of the 15 positive 2019-nCoV cases, 11 are China nationals while four are Malaysians.

So far, one patient – a four-year-old Chinese girl – has recovered from the coronavirus and has been allowed to return to China.

Dzulkefly said the four Malaysians are in stable condition with no signs of worsening.

"They are far from any danger. They have symptoms like cough and we treat them symptomatically.

"As with the first case where the four-year-old girl recovered from the virus, we know that these diseases are self-limiting," he said.