KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 4 — A Malaysian man contracted the Wuhan novel coronavirus after he travelled to Singapore for a conference with international delegates, including those from China, health authorities said.
The 41-year-old Malaysian was one of two new 2019-nCoV cases reported in Malaysia, with the other new case involving a male Chinese national aged 63 from Wuhan, China, who arrived at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on January 18, said Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad.
The Chinese national suffered a light fever five days later on January 23 and sought treatment at a private hospital in the capital city. Then he was admitted to Kuala Lumpur Hospital on February 2 and is currently in stable condition after testing positive for the new coronavirus.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian man with coronavirus was in Singapore from January 16 to 22, before returning to Malaysia on January 23.
He was hospitalised at a private medical centre in Selangor six days later on January 29 for fever and cough, and subsequently sent to Sungai Buloh Hospital on February 2, and is currently in stable condition after testiing positive for 2019-nCoV.
“MOH (Ministry of Health) has contacted the Health Ministry of the said neighbouring country and they confirmed that they have started contact tracing,” Dzulkefly said in a statement today.
“MOH is working with the Health Ministry of the affected country to identify the source of the infection.”
This brings the total infections of the new strain of coronavirus to 10 in Malaysia, comprising nine Chinese nationals and one Malaysian.
Hong Kong today reported its first death from 2019-nCoV, the second death from the novel coronavirus outside China, after the Philippines reported a death over the weekend.
The death toll from the coronavirus outbreak, which originated in Wuhan, has risen to at least 425 and infected over 20,000 worldwide across more than 20 countries.
