PUTRAJAYA, Feb 18 — All 107 individuals comprising Malaysians and their family members who were evacuated from Wuhan, China on Feb 4 following COVID-19 outbreak in the republic, have been allowed to leave the monitoring centre in Nilai, Negeri Sembilan after they completed their quarantine process.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said repeated tests conducted on them were found to be negative for the COVID-19 infection.
“Those who are allowed home today included the two confirmed COVID-19 cases treated at Tuanku Ja’afar Hospital in Seremban,” he told a daily media briefing on the COVID-19 infection here today.
Dzulkefly said, however, one of them was currently admitted into a hospital for a health issue that was not related to COVID-19.
The group was ferried home via a special flight under the Humanitarian and Disaster Relief mission, carried out by the Malaysian government.
Upon their arrival, they were taken to the Higher Education Leadership Academy (AKEPT) to undergo a 14-day monitoring process, starting from Feb 4.
Meanwhile, Dzulkefly said the cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Malaysia remained at 22 with 11 cases still receiving treatment at hospitals.
“The number of cases that have been discharged is 11 patients to date,” he said, adding that no new cases reported today.
The 22 cases included 12 from patient-under-investigation (PUI) cases, eight from close contacts and two among evacuees from Wuhan.
Of the 22 patients, 15 are China nationals, six Malaysians and one American.
To date, a total of 583 PUIs have been reported to the National Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC). As for the close contacts of the positive patients, 230 cases tested negative and 13 are still waiting for laboratory results.
Meanwhile, those who had been placed under quarantine at AKEPT were seen leaving the centre at 4.30 pm today.
According to the Ministry of Health team’s coordinator Dr Nur Adibah Shaharul, they were tested negative for COVID-19 in the final test conducted yesterday.
Dr Nur Adibah who is also coordinating medical officer at Seremban district health office said each individual underwent three tests throughout the surveillance period.
The first test was conducted on Feb 4 at the Air Disaster Unit upon their arrival at the airport, while the second test was carried out on Feb 10 and the final test was done yesterday (Feb17), she told Bernama.
Asked on procedures after the quarantine process completed, Dr Nur Adibah said her team would carry out a clinical cleaning at the centre by disinfecting everything, including the corridors of the building.
—BERNAMA
