GEORGE TOWN, Jan 26 — The 1,209 Chinese nationals who entered Penang on a cruise ship through the Swettenham Jetty here today were confirmed free of the  2019 novel coronavirus.

Penang Immigration director Muhamad Husni Mahmud said the Chinese nationals arrived at the jetty at 6.15am on transit while waiting to depart to Phuket, Thailand, at 5pm today.

"When they arrived, personnel from the Penang health department conducted health examination and screening on the passengers and crew of the cruise ship twice before their documents were checks by the Immigration.

"None of them (tourists from China) was detected or referred by the healthy authority to us (Immigration), meaning there was no suspected carrier of the virus,” he said in a statement here.

Muhamad Husni said the cruise ship was from Singapore and stopped at Port Klang, Selangor, before arriving in Penang on transit to Phuket, Thailand. — Bernama