KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 7 — Another person has tested positive for the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) in Malaysia, with the latest case being a 59-year-old woman from Wuhan who arrived in Malaysia through Johor on January 21.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dzulkefly Ahmad said the woman, who is currently receiving treatment at Hospital Permai in Johor Baru, is reportedly in stable condition, and that her 66-year-old husband who came along with her has since been placed in isolation at the same hospital.

Dzulkefly explained the woman arrived in Singapore on January 17 together with her spouse, son and daughter-in-law before crossing over into Johor four days later.

"She started to display symptoms on January 26. She did not seek treatment from any public health facility but was only taking fever medicine bought by her son from a pharmacy near their accommodation,” he said.

The minister explained the woman then rescheduled and did not board her flight on February 4 back to Guangzhou, China as she felt unwell, and stayed in Malaysia with her husband while her son and daughter-in-law returned home.

He said the next day, Johor Baru district health officials then received a report from personnel working at the accommodation where the woman was staying, informing them of her condition which had not improved despite her finishing the dose of over-the-counter medication.

The woman was then referred to Hospital Permai by the health officials, where 2019-nCoV tests results the next day came back positive, with her under observation and isolation ever since.

This brings the total number of positive cases reported locally to 15, which includes four Malaysians and 11 Chinese nationals.

One of those infected included a four-year-old girl from Guangzhou, China, who was discharged from Hospital Sultanah Maliha on Tuesday after subsequent tests showed she had fully recovered.

Dzulkefly said today that tests were currently being conducted on the premises of the accommodation where the woman stayed in Johor Baru, with ministry officials also conducting contact tracing for those who had come into contact with her.

"We don’t want to cause alarm. What is important is meeting all those who came into close contact. We will go, find, track and trace them.

"They also did not move around much,” he said when asked if the woman had visited many places within Johor and if people should be alarmed.

So far, he said 96 people have been tracked down following contact tracing exercises of those found to have been infected, with six of them eventually testing positive; 74 tested negative. The test results of 16 others are still pending.

As was previously advised, Dzulkefly today urged those within high-risk groups — those 12 years old and younger, those above 65 years old and those prone to illnesses — to stay away from hospitals to avoid the risk of infection.

This, he said, was directed mainly at those looking to visit friends or family members admitted to hospital wards, advising against making the trip unless it was absolutely necessary.

The disease is believed to have emerged in December in a Wuhan market that sold wild animals, and spread rapidly as people travelled for the Lunar New Year holiday in January.

The new coronavirus is from the same family of pathogens as the one that causes SARS, which killed some 800 people in 2002-2003.

The epidemic has prompted the World Health Organisation (WHO) to declare a global health emergency, several governments to institute travel restrictions, and airlines to suspend flights to and from China.