Health Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah announced that there have been no new cases of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) or the strain Corona Virus (MERS-CoV).
In a statement today, he said no clusters of MERS-CoV infection were reported anywhere in the country, making the permanent cumulative total as one case of death.
On April 13, a 54-year old Johorean man died of MERS-CoV after returning from his umrah pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. Concequently, 64 people in his village of Kampung Bintang near Batu Pahat were placed under quarantine to screen for MERS infection.
“There was no positive infection of MERS-CoV from 79 samples taken from those who had close contact or no close contact with the victim,” Noor Hisham said.
Dr Hisham also said all 17 members of the group in the same umrah (visit to holy land) package as the victim were found to be healthy and did not show any symptoms and had been confirmed free of the virus.
Yesterday, The Malay Mail Online reported that an examination of 15 umrah-goers who returned from the holy land with the man who was confirmed to have died of MERS-CoV, showed they were not infected.
See Also: First MERS death outside of Middle East recorded in Malaysia; 64 people in Johor village quarantined over MERS outbreak fears
