ONLY Malaysians who have cleared the exit health screening for novel coronavirus (nCoV19) in China will be brought back into the country, said Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.

The health minister said those who have symptoms will be sent to health facilities in Wuhan.

“The exit screening will be done by China’s health authorities at the Wuhan Tianhe International Airport,” Dzulkefly told reporters at the ministry’s daily briefing on the nCoV19 outbreak in Putrajaya today.

“Those who have symptoms will be taken to health facilities in Wuhan to undergo further treatment.”

Dzulkefly was explaining to the media about the repatriation of Malaysians based in Wuhan and Hubei province in light of the nCoV19 outbreak in China.

He said those who passed the health screening in Wuhan will be observed by six Malaysian medical officers during the AirAsia flight back to Kuala Lumpur.

“The ones who develop symptoms during the flight will be isolated from the other passengers and moved to the back of the plane.

“Upon arrival, all the 141 Malaysians from China and 28 crew, including medical officers, cabin crew and government officers, will board a special bus to the Air Disaster Unit for decontamination and entry health screening. They will come in through the regular entry points at KLIA.

“Those who display symptoms will be moved to Hospital Sg Buloh or Hospital Kuala Lumpur while the others will be taken to an observation centre where they will be monitored for 14 days,” said Dzulkefly.

“They will only be allowed to return home after they are confirmed healthy and negative for nCoV19.”

Asked when the flight carrying Malaysians will be back, Dzulkefly said it depends on Chinese authorities.

“It’s down to their exit processes now. The National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) will inform the public.”

The number of confirmed deaths from the virus rose to 360, exceeding the death toll of 349 from the 2002-03 SARS outbreak, after authorities in Hubei province reported 56 new fatalities this morning.

In its daily update, figures from the health commission in Hubei, which has been hit hardest by the virus, also showed a jump in confirmed infections with 2,103 new cases.

That puts the national total at more than 16,480, based on numbers previously issued by the Chinese government.

Meanwhile, there have been no additional positive nCoV19 cases in Malaysia since last Friday.

The number of positive cases remain at eight while the total number of patients-under-investigation (PUI) stand at 192.

105 of them are Malaysians while 82 are Chinese nationals with one each from Australia, South Korea, Jordan, Brazil and Thailand.

Dzulkefly told reporters that 173 cases tested negative while another 16 are awaiting laboratory results.

“The patients we are looking after are stable and have not gotten worse. Even the two children are well. 

“We are constantly doing throat swabs for testing. When we have negative results, we will inform the media,” said Dzulkefly. – February 3, 2020.