THE Health Ministry has traced 22 people who had close contact with a 31-year old-man who was tested positive for the coronavirus yesterday.

Minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said three of them are family members, while 19 are medical staff.

“The man, who worked in Macau, went to a private clinic after falling ill as soon as he returned from China. He then went to a government clinic after not showing improvement before he was referred to Banting Hospital.”

“From Banting Hospital he was sent to Sungai Buloh Hospital. Some of the medical staff were not wearing personal protective equipment and we have traced them,” said Dzulkefly.

Earlier today, the Health Ministry confirmed the 18th coronavirus case in the country.

The ministry said the man was initially diagnosed with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).

AFP reports that the number of deaths in China from the coronavirus jumped to 904 today after the hardest-hit province of Hubei reported 91 new fatalities.

In its daily update, Hubei’s health commission also confirmed another 2,618 new cases in the central province, where the outbreak emerged in December.

There are now more than 39,800 confirmed cases across China.

Dzulkefly said six other Malaysians infected with the virus are in a stable condition.

“They are still in the isolation ward and they are still stable. Let’s pray they will get better soon,” he said.

The virus is believed to have emerged last year in a market that sells wild animals in Hubei’s capital Wuhan, the city at the centre of the outbreak, before spreading across the country.

The only confirmed fatalities outside the mainland are a Chinese man in the Philippines and a 39-year-old man in Hong Kong.

The new coronavirus has caused more deaths than SARS, which killed 774 people in 2002-03. –  February 10, 2020.