No SARI or ILI cases tested positive for COVID-19, says Health DG

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 26 -- The Ministry of Health (MOH) has strengthened COVID-19 surveillance among patients diagnosed with severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) and influenza-like-illness (ILI) to detect sporadic and local cases with no travel history to China or contact with positive cases.

Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said, as of yesterday, a total of 122 samples had been tested, namely 77 SARI and 45 ILI cases, and so far no SARI or ILI cases had been detected positive for COVID-19 infection.

He said samples from 1,548 people comprising patient-under-investigation (PUI), contacts of COVID-19 positive cases and individuals from the Humanitarian Aid Mission had been taken.

"Of the total, 22 cases were confirmed positive for COVID-19, 12 of them were PUI, eight direct contact with COVID-19 positive cases, and two among Humanitarian Aid Mission," he said in a statement here today.

He said the last COVID-19 case reported in Malaysia was on Feb 15 with 20 out of 22 cases had fully recovered and had been discharged from the ward while the other two cases were still being treated and in stable condition.

In another development, Dr Noor Hisham the first meeting of the Malaysia-Singapore Joint Working Group (JWG) for the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) yesterday had agreed to further enhance cooperation to prevent and control the spread of COVID-19. 

“The JWG agreed to exchange information on clinical management of patients between technical experts to ensure optimal treatment is provided to COVID-19 patients," he said.

Both parties also agreed to strengthen entry screening at both countries and align health screening protocols at the land borders, as well as to share existing screening protocols at the two land borders, he said. 

"Malaysia and Singapore will share national advisories and public messages as well as activate a bilateral Field Epidemiology Training Network (FETN) to share surveillance data and the results," he said.

-- BERNAMA