IPOH: The state National Security Council is considering providing thermal screening sensors to screen incoming visitors for the novel coronavirus infection (2019-nCoV) upon arrival at the state's main entrances.
State Health, Consumer Affairs, National Integration and Human Resources Committee chairman A. Sivanesan said the thermal screening sensor, which cost RM70,000, would be placed at the Sultan Azlan Shah Airport (SAS) here and in Pengkalan Hulu.
"We don't have thermal scanners at this moment and the state Health Department officers have to use forehead thermometers to get passengers' temperatures.
"We have also discussed this matter during a meeting, chaired by state secretary (Datuk Ahmad Suaidi Abdul Rahim) on Friday, and the council is ready to assist us," he told reporters after visiting the airport here today.
Also present were state Investment and Corridor Development Committee Chairman Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin and state Health Department deputy director (public health), Dr Ummi Kalthom Shamsudin.
Sivanesan added that between Jan 1 and Tuesday (Jan 28), the airport recorded a total of 3,585 flyers and two of them were from China.
"However, no positive case of infection has been detected in the state so far although there was one suspected case.
"A local man who works in China was suspected of having the novel coronavirus and tested negative for the disease. He had been discharged from the Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital (HRPB) on Saturday," he said.
He added that five hospitals in the Perak would handle suspected and confirmed cases of 2019-nCoV namely HRPB, Taiping Hospital, Manjung Hospital, Slim River Hospital and Teluk Intan Hospital.
The virus had so far claimed 170 lives across China since it emerged in Wuhan on Dec 31 last year.
As of today, Malaysia has recorded eight positive cases, with all the patients being tourists from China.