KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 17 — A Selangor resident who was the first Malaysian to test positive for the Wuhan virus, or Covid-19, is now cured and has been discharged, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dzulkefly Ahmad announced today.
In a press statement announcing the matter, he said that no new cases of Covid-19 were reported to the National Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC) today.
“The total cumulative confirmed Covid-19 cases in Malaysia remains at 22 cases, with 13 cases still receiving treatment in hospitals,” he said.
“Out of these confirmed 22 cases, 12 are from Patient-Under-Investigation, eight are from close contacts, two are from Malaysians evacuated through the humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) from Wuhan.
“Out of these confirmed 22 cases, 15 are Chinese nationals, six are Malaysians, and one a US national,” he said.
Dzulkefly said that of the 22, nine patients have been discharged after undergoing repeated Covid-19 tests, and found to be negative on “two consecutive repeated tests”.
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 coronavirus diseases are from the same family of pathogens behind the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which killed over 800 people in 2002-2003.
The epidemic led the World Health Organisation (WHO) to declare a public health emergency of international concern.
