Report: 'Sporadic' COVID-19 case found in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR (March 12): The first “sporadic” COVID-19 case has been detected in the country yesterday, reported the New Straits Times (NST).

A sporadic case means that the COVID-19 infected individual “did not have any travel history to affected countries or contact with an infected person”.

Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah announced that the sporadic case was found after the Ministry of Health carried out checks on “600 samples taken from people with influenza-like ilness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI)”.

Tests confirmed that one of those samples was infected with COVID-19.

NST also asked Dr Noor if the latest discovery “warranted Malaysia” boosting our nationwide response mechanism to “Heightened Risk” to combat the outbreak.

“Let us investigate this case first before we collectively make a decision,” he replied.

Yesterday, the World Health Organization (WHO) officially described the new coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak a pandemic, issuing a grim warning that the global spread and severity of the illness was due to "alarming levels of inaction".

The declaration came as Europe faced a mounting number of cases — including a slew of new countries clocking first deaths — prompting governments to roll out increasingly tough measures to slow the rapid spread of the virus.

Meanwhile, the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital (HTAR) Klang will impose visitor restrictions with immediate effect, following an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in the country.

HTAR, in a statement posted on its official Facebook account, said the move was implemented to reduce the risk of infection among patients, visitors and hospital staff.