First Malaysian Coronavirus Patient Treated, Discharged From Hospital

By Bimbo Ogunnaike with agency report

Malaysian Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad has confirmed that the country’s first national who had tested positive for the coronavirus (COVID-19) has recovered and been discharged from hospital

Ahmad said in a statement on Monday that the 41-year-old man was tested positive for the virus on February three and was treated in an isolation ward.

He has attended meetings in Singapore in January and became the first Malaysian to be tested positive for COVID-19 upon returning to Malaysia.

The man’s 40-year-old sister and 65-year-old mother-in-law who contracted the virus from him are still being treated.

Dzulkefly added that no new cases had been identified in the country, with a total of 16 Chinese nationals, six Malaysians and one U.S. citizen, having tested positive for the disease, of whom nine had recovered and been discharged.

“They underwent repeated COVID-19 tests, and found to be negative on two consecutive repeated tests,” he said of those discharged.

Dzulkefly added that he had contacted his Cambodian counterpart Mam Bunheng, to further strengthen collaboration between the two countries in combating COVID-19, after an 83-year-old U.S. national flying in from Cambodia had tested positive for the infection.

He also said the Health Ministry will work closely with all countries involved and with the World Health Organization in the management of COVID-19 infection as well as coordinating information in implementing close contact tracing activities.