UDA Holdings Bhd chairman Hisham Hamdan, the country’s 26th coronavirus patient who has cases linked to him, said he is not their source of infection.

“The second wave of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia are linked to me, that I think is clear. But being linked to me and having originated from me are two entirely different things.

“The Health Ministry is still working diligently, and must be applauded for continuing to search for Patient Zero,” he said in a statement today.

The ministry yesterday said there are 26 cases in the cluster linked to Hisham.

He said it is impossible that he contracted the virus during his Shanghai trip from January 13 and 17 as he started exhibiting symptoms only on February 27, pointing out that research has shown Covid-19 has a two-week incubation period.

At the time of his trip, he said, the only cases were reported in Wuhan, which he did not visit.

He said he went to Beijing prior to Malaysia issuing an advisory against travel to China and the World Health Organisation declaring a public health emergency.

“Furthermore, the earliest close-contact patients linked to me were from a meeting on February 21, five weeks after I returned.

“Unless new medical research tells us otherwise, it is important to keep the facts, as we know them now, clear – my visit to Shanghai is not linked to my positive confirmation.

“I also attended a ministry function in my capacity as UDA chairman on February 27, but I would like to clarify that I did not attend any political functions.”

The executive director of the Khazanah Research and Investment Strategy division at Khazanah Nasional Bhd said he sat in several meetings from February 21 to 27 attended by individuals who have since tested positive for the virus.

“The Health Ministry is still searching for Patient Zero. I just happened to be the first person who was tested from this string of meetings.”

He added that his family have tested negative.

Hisham tested positive at the Subang Jaya Medical Centre outpatient centre, after which he was referred to Sg Buloh Hospital on February 29.

“It was there that my positive results were confirmed.”

As of 12pm yesterday, Malaysia had 55 confirmed cases of infection, 22 of whom have been discharged after making a full recovery. – March 6, 2020.