KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 — Malaysia has been quite fortunate to date in the global battle against the novel coronavirus 2019-nCoV that has spread from China to 27 other countries and regions and killed 814 people within the span of two months, at the time of writing.

With health and government officials working round the clock, Malaysia with its population of 32 million has chalked up 17 cases compared to 43 in Singapore and 32 in Thailand as of Sunday. 

Out of the 17 cases, five are Malaysians who are still under hospital quarantine. The remaining 12 cases involve Chinese nationals, three of whom have since recovered and been discharged.

Let’s take a look at the timeline of the pathogen since it invaded our shores last month.

How nCoV entered Malaysia

On January 24, the Ministry of Health confirmed the first three cases of 2019-nCoV in the country, a 66-year old woman and her two grandchildren, who were part of a group of eight people who had come into direct contact with the first positive case reported in Singapore.  

The fourth case is a 40-year-old man from Wuhan, China, who was part of a tour group that travelled by bus to Johor from Singapore as well. 

It was reported that the man had suffered from fever and sought treatment the next day and was subsequently confirmed on January 25 by the Ministry of Health’s Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre that he was suffering from coronavirus and quarantined at the Permai Hospital in Johor Baru, until yesterday.

Tighter border control for Chinese travellers 

With the majority of Malaysia’s nCoV cases from Chinese travellers, Putrajaya announced on January 27 that it had halted all immigration facilities, including issuing visas for Chinese citizens from Wuhan city and several other areas within Hubei province, to contain the virus. 

The move occurred a day after a petition was created online urging the government for a complete ban on Chinese travellers into Malaysia. The petition has since been taken down. 

Health officials also expanded their health screening at all Malaysia’s international gateways, including land and sea.

The Ministry of Health also announced close cooperation with Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad to create a special lane for incoming Chinese travellers to prevent the risk of cross-contamination. 

As an added measure, the government also quarantined Malaysians who were brought back from China, especially from Wuhan — a city of 11 million and the source of the nCoV outbreak. 

After a preliminary health screening at the Air Disaster Unit in KLIA, they were taken to the Higher Education Leadership Academy in Bandar Enstek, Nilai, Negri Sembilan, where they would be isolated for 14 days during which they would be closely monitored for signs of the infectious virus and if tested negative, would subsequently be allowed to go home.

Domestic transmissions

A 41-year-old Malaysian who travelled to Singapore from January 16 to 23 for a meeting that included participants from China, who was found positive for the Wuhan virus was the ninth confirmed case in Malaysia but the first involving a Malaysian.

He fell sick with a fever and a cough on January 29 and was first treated at a private hospital and was later referred to the Sungai Buloh Hospital on February 2 where he was put in the isolation ward. 

On February 6, health officials disclosed that his 40-year-old sister whom he had met back at their hometown in Sungai Petani, Kedah for the Chinese New Year celebrations on January 23 had the Wuhan virus. 

She was confirmed to be the first locally transmitted novel 2019-nCoV case. 

The sister is warded at the isolation ward in Hospital Sultanah Bahiyah in Alor Setar, Kedah. Her condition is reported to be stable.

Yesterday, the 41-year-old man’s Malaysian mother-in-law aged 65, was confirmed to be the latest and second locally transmitted case in Malaysia, increasing the current tally of confirmed cases so far to 17.

Full recovery

To date, three infected patients have been given a clean bill of health from the nCoV pathogen.

The first to get the all-clear was a four-year-old Chinese girl who was treated at the Hospital Sultanah Maliha in Langkawi, Kedah. (She was the sixth confirmed case in Malaysia).

She was discharged on February 4, a full week after her hospital admission, and allowed to fly home to China.

The girl’s full recovery boosted Malaysians’ hope that the dreaded virus that has felled hundreds worldwide, is treatable even without a vaccine. 

The second patient to recover was announced to be the Wuhan man who was the fourth confirmed case in Malaysia.

He was discharged from Permai Hospital in Johor Baru on February 8 after being treated with antiviral medicine.

Yesterday, a 63-year-old man from China became the third patient in Malaysia to be certified as having fully recovered, after having tested negative in two consecutive tests in the two days prior to his discharge from the Kuala Lumpur Hospital’s isolation ward.

The man, who was the 10th confirmed case in Malaysia, had received symptomatic treatment and did not require anti-viral drugs.

The Ministry of Health yesterday released the latest tally of confirmed coronavirus cases globally as of 4.30pm based on figures from the National CPRC and the World Health Organisation (WHO), namely 37,581 cases with the bulk located in China at 37,277 cases while the remaining 304 cases are in 24 other countries, at the time of writing.

According to the latest news reports at the time of writing, the countries with the highest number of confirmed cases after China are Japan (96), Singapore (43), Thailand (32), South Korea (25), followed by Malaysia (17). 

Other than the 812 deaths in China and one death each recorded in Hong Kong and the Philippines, no other countries have recorded deaths from coronavirus at the time of writing.