PUTRAJAYA: 21 February 2020 – Malaysia continues to show improvement in the Covid-19 situation as two more patients of the corona virus have recovered.
The two patients, a 27-year-old man and a 32-year-old woman, both Chinese nationals, were discharged from Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah in Alor Setar and Hospital Sultanah Maliha in Langkawi respectively.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said 17 Covid-19 patients have recovered and had been discharged in Malaysia.
“No new cases were reported to the National Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC) today. The total of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Malaysia remains at 22 cases, with five cases still receiving treatment in hospitals,” said Dzulkefly in a statement.
He said the five patients were in stable condition and three were being treated at Hospital Kuala Lumpur, while another two were at Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah and Sungai Buloh Hospital respectively.
The 27-year-old is a businessman who was found to be symptomatic at the Bukit Kayu Hitam checkpoint at the Malaysia-Thailand border.
The 32-year-old woman is married to a Malaysian and resides in the country. She returned to China between Jan 22 and 30.
Both tested positive for Covid-19 on Feb 14 and were put in isolation.
On the four Malaysians who were aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship which had docked in Japan, Dzulkefly said three were passengers while one was a crew member.
He said two of them who tested positive for Covid-19 were a husband and wife aged 71 and 66. They are being treated at Fujita Hospital in Nagoya. Both are stable.
Dzulkefly added that another Malaysian passenger, a 61-year-old woman, was found to be negative.
“She will be allowed to travel home to Malaysia by the Japanese health authority upon completion of the 14-day quarantine,” he said.
He said that the Malaysian crew member was monitored on board by Japanese health authorities.
More than 620 people out of 3,700 passengers and crew on the Diamond Princess have tested positive. Two passengers who were diagnosed with the virus have died.
Meanwhile, in a separate statement, Dzulkefly said none of the crew and passengers of cruise liner MV Genting Dream had been to China in the past 14 days.
The ship, which docked at West Port, Klang, at noon yesterday, carried a total of 957 passengers and 1,701 crew members, of which 276 are from China.
“The crew from China have signed on as early as May 2019, with the latest being Jan 24 this year. None of them, the ship, the crew or the passengers have been to China for the past two weeks, taking into account the 14-day-incubation period,” said Dzulkefly.
The Genting Dream is a three-day, two-night cruise which arrived from Singapore at noon and returned at 11pm the same day.
As at 3pm yesterday, 350 passengers and 230 crew members who disembarked were screened, with none showing any signs of illness.
Dream Cruises said yesterday it would suspend operations from Singapore until March 27.
“Dream Cruises made the difficult decision to suspend operations from Singapore as a measure to help curtail the spread of Covid-19 and as a result of the tightening travel restrictions enacted by various countries,” said Dream Cruises president Michael Goh.
“Guests booked on any of the cancelled itineraries will be provided with compensation options, including to defer their cruise to a future sailing or, if needed, to cancel their cruise for a full refund,” he said. – The Star