PUTRAJAYA, Jan 26 — The Malaysian embassy in Beijing, China and the Consulate in Xi’an is in constant communication with 49 Malaysians in Wuhan to keep abreast of their situation in view of the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak there, said Foreign Affairs Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah.

He said, for the moment, there was no need to bring the Malaysians home, explaining that such a move will depend on how critical the situation is.

Saifuddin said this today at a press conference here after a cluster coordination meeting on the coronavirus, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.

He urged Malaysians across China, and particularly those in Wuhan, to contact the embassy or the nearest consulate to enable the government to monitor their situations.

"We also advise Malaysians who have returned from China to seek medical treatment if they don’t feel well,” Saifuddin added.

Meanwhile, health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said for the moment, the coronavirus situation in Malaysia comprising four confirmed cases, was categorised as a cluster infection because it only involved a small group of tourists from China, and there was no infection among the Malaysian population.

On procedures adopted in reference to Chinese tourists in the country, he said if individuals exhibit symptoms and test positive for coronavirus, they will be hospitalised immediately.

"If they test positive but do not exhibit symptoms, they will be placed under observation for about two weeks,” Dr Noor Hisham added, explaining that the logistics of such an arrangement will be discussed with the Chinese embassy in Malaysia. — Bernama

* A previous version of this story contained errors which have since been corrected.