MORE than 380 Malaysians in Iran and Italy will be brought home, said Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, after those countries were hard hit by the Covid-19 outbreak.

In a special live telecast address on the pandemic tonight, Muhyiddin said the government was in the process of bringing home 65 Malaysians in Iran and 323 in Italy.

This was after the government flew home, in stages, 107 Malaysians stranded in some of the worst-hit regions in China last month.

Muhyiddin said the government will continue its temporary ban on travel to three Chinese provinces – Hubei, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, which are the worst hit in China, the epicentre of the virus outbreak.

Travel restrictions also remain in place for the Hokkaido province in Japan, South Korea, Iran and Italy.

Cruise ships will only be allowed to dock in Malaysia to refill supplies but their passengers will not be allowed to disembark, he added.

Globally, there have been 132,567 cases detected in 126 countries, while the death toll has reached 4,947. – March 13, 2020.