PENANG, 1 June 2009: Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai today confirmed that no new cases of Influenza A (H1N1) were reported in the country.
However, he said the ministry would continue to monitor developments of the disease nationwide.
So far, he said 11 people were still placed under home quarantine after having come into contact with H1N1 patients.
Liow was met by reporters after welcoming AirAsia‘s first Singapore-Penang flight at the Bayan Lepas International Airport today.
In KUALA LUMPUR, Director-General of Health, Tan Sri Dr Mohd Ismail Merican said the 11 under home quarantine were in good health with no sign of infections.
He said the quarantine order for one of them would be lifted today, while six others would be released from quarantine tomorrow.
“Four contacts to the case in Hong Kong will be released from quarantine on 4 and 5 June,” he said in a statement today.
He said the Health Ministry’s National Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC) had been notified of four cases in isolation wards of three hospitals to be investigated.
“The four cases, however, were tested negative. So far, 345 patients have been admitted to isolation wards out of whom, 343 were found negative and two were positive as reported on 15 and 16 May,” he said.
Dr Mohd Ismail also said the World Health Organisation had announced that Vietnam had reported its first case of H1N1, bringing the total number of countries involved to 56.
He said there was a total of 17,134 cases confirmed through lab tests so far including 115 deaths.
Of the 62 new cases reported over the last 24 hours, he said one was reported in Vietnam, Australia (43), China (five), Taiwan (two), the Philippines (10) and Singapore (one).
He also said that a total of 9,161 individuals arriving from these countries had been screened and only one was referred to the hospital for further examination.
Of the total, he said 3,067 (33.5%) were screened at the airports, 1,955 (21.3%) at ports and 4,139 (45.2%) at land entry points.
He said a total of 297,470 individuals had been screened at the air, sea and land entry points nationwide since 24 April.
“A total of 59 suspected cases were referred to hospital for investigation,” he added. — Bernama
