ONE Malaysian has tested positive for the 2019 novel coronavirus after returning from a seven-day trip to Singapore, said Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.

The health minister said the 41-year-old tested positive yesterday and is currently being treated at Sg Buloh Hospital.

“The Health Ministry is checking the close contacts of the person concerned,” he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur today.

The patient, from Selangor, is the country’s first coronavirus case involving a local.

Dr Dzulkefly said the man has a history of travelling to a neighbouring country for work.

“He was there from January 16 to 23 to attend an international meeting with a delegation of Chinese nationals. He returned on January 23.

“On January 29, he was treated at a private hospital in Selangor for fever and cough. The hospital alerted us, and he was referred to Sg Buloh Hospital on February 2 (and placed in) the isolation ward. He tested positive on February 3.”

The patient is in stable condition, and the ministry is liaising with the country he was recently in to begin contact tracing.

Asked which country it was, Dr Dzulkefly said: “The one where we received the first batch of positive cases from.”

The Selangor patient is one of two new confirmed cases in Malaysia.

The other is a Chinese national from Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, who arrived here on January 13. He experienced a mild fever on January 23 and sought treatment at a private hospital, which then informed the ministry.

The man was then moved to Kuala Lumpur Hospital’s isolation ward, and tested positive yesterday.

The two cases of infection bring the total to 10 in Malaysia – five were patients under investigation, and the rest are close contact cases.

Besides the Malaysian, the others are Chinese nationals.

The number of patients under investigation now stands at 213. – February 4, 2020.