SHAH ALAM, Jan 30 — The Health Ministry has announced an additional confirmed case of the novel coronavirus, bringing the total of positive cases to eight.
Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a statement today that the latest positive case involved a 49-year-old woman, who is the wife of one of the reported patients in Johor on January 29.
The woman is said to be receiving treatment in the isolation ward in Hospital Permai, Johor, and is in stable condition.
Dr Noor Hisham said the eight cases include three patients that were under investigation (PUI) and five cases were those that had close contact with one another. All eight patients are Chinese nationals.
He said that the number of patients under investigation (PUI) had also increased to 89, comprising 44 Malaysians, 42 China nationals, and one patient each from Jordan, Brazil and Thailand.
From the total number of PUI cases, he said three have been confirmed to be carrying the virus, 81 tested negative and five more is pending the lab results.
The coronavirus outbreak, which originated in Wuhan, was reported to have killed 170 people in China as of Thursday morning. Beijing has placed Wuhan and the surrounding Hubei province in a lockdown.
Malaysia has temporarily suspended the entry of all Chinese nationals from Wuhan and Hubei in an effort to control the spread of the disease in the country.
