Nurse And Patient Of Private Hospital Are Among 4 New COVID-19 Cases In Malaysia

According to New Straits Times, health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said four Malaysians, between the ages of 20 and 52, tested positive on Saturday, 29 February.

Dr Noor Hisham said case 26 is a 52-year-old man who travelled to Shanghai in the middle of January.

Malaysiakini reported that he is an employee of Khazanah Nasional Berhad, who was possibly in contact with two former ministers.

"He developed fever and a sore throat last Thursday, 27 February, and sought outpatient treatment at a private hospital on the same day," he said.

"He was confirmed positive on Saturday, and is receiving treatment at HSB's isolation ward. Investigation into the cause of infection and detection of close contacts are underway."

Case 27 is a 20-year-old trainee nurse at the private hospital where case 24 sought treatment before she was confirmed positive, while case 29 is a 35-year-old woman who shared a hospital room with case 24 during her admission.

"At the time, case 24 had yet to be confirmed with COVID-19," explained Dr Noor Hisham. "Hence, case 29 was allowed to go home. However, she developed fever and started coughing two days later."

Case 29 had not sought treatment but was only detected when health district officers identified her as a close contact of case 24, a 41-year-old Japanese woman working in Malaysia.

A nurse who was treating case 24 at the private hospital was also identified as a close contact and tested positive on the same day.

According to The Star, she is the first healthcare worker in Malaysia to be infected with the disease.

"She handled case 24 without personal protective equipment on 21 and 22 February," said Dr Noor Hisham.

The both of them had travelled to Milan, Italy together with another co-worker between 15 and 21 February.

He was also detected by the MOH when they were establishing close contacts of case 25. They found that he had symptoms four days after he came back from Italy.

"His results came back positive on Saturday, and he is now at the HSB's isolation ward for further treatment," said Dr Noor Hisham.

According to BBC, there are almost 90,000 confirmed cases worldwide, with the global death toll just exceeding 3,000 today, 2 March.

While 90% of the deaths are in China, with its death toll at 2,912, the number is also creeping up in other countries.

Iran has the second highest number of deaths after China, with 54 people killed and 978 infected after only announcing its first cases on 19 February.

Reuters reported that the Iranians are worrying that their clerical establishment does not have a firm grip on the illness, and were even concealing the outbreak to ensure a high turnout in their recent parliamentary polls.

Meanwhile, South Korea has become the biggest hotspot outside of China, reporting 476 new cases today, bringing the country's total infected to 4,212 and 26 deaths.

Of the confirmed cases in South Korea, 3,081 cases are from Daegu - and 73% of these cases have been linked to the Shincheonji Church, which has been accused of keeping its members secret, thus making it harder to track the outbreak.

In Italy, infections have nearly doubled over the weekend, making it the hardest hit country in Europe, with nearly 1,700 cases and 34 deaths.

Last weekend, cases in the United States rose to at least 76 with two deaths, both in Washington, with New York confirming its first case last night.

Countries including Qatar, Ecuador, Luxembourg, and Ireland have all also confirmed their first cases over the weekend, with Indonesia just confirming two positive cases today.