18 new confirmed COVID-19 cases in Malaysia, bringing total to 117

KUALA LUMPUR (March 9): There are 18 new confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 as of noon today, according to the Ministry of Health (MoH), causing total number of confirmed cases to rise to 117, from 93 yesterday. 

Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (pictured) said all new patients have been admitted to hospital for isolation and further treatment.

“We are still identifying those who had been in close contact with these patients, to collect some samples and investigate further,” he said in a statement.

Noor Hisham said case 101 was identified as one of the Persons Under Investigation (PUI) who had just returned from a business trip in Iran between Feb 20 and Feb 27.

The male patient was detected to have carried symptoms on March 5 and tested positive for Covid-19 three days later. He has been admitted to Hospital Tuanku Jaafar in Negeri Sembilan, for isolation and further treatment.

Out of a total of 117 COVID-19 cases in Malaysia, 19 patients were detected among PUI, 96 cases were infected through close contact with an infected person, while two others were infected during a humanitarian aid mission to combat the effects of the disease.

The two patients being treated at the intensive care unit (ICU) as reported yesterday, still require respiratory aids.

Noor Hisham said MOH is also tracing local sporadic cases among patients with influenza-like-illnesses (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI), who may not have any recent history of travelling abroad or any contacts with infected COVID-19 patients.

"We have collected 574 samples up until March 9 and none of them tested positive for COVID-19," he said.

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