PUTRAJAYA: The government stands by its "world-class" health protocol that confirmed an American passenger of a cruise ship docked in Cambodia having tested positive for Covid-19 when she arrived in Malaysia.
Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said tests conducted twice on the 83-year-old woman, who is now being treated at an isolation ward at the Sungai Buloh Hospital came back positive for the virus.
The woman together with her husband, 85, along with 143 other passengers from the MS Westerdam cruise ship, had flown from Cambodia and arrived in Malaysia via Malaysia Airlines charter flight MH8763 at 7pm on Friday.
The flight is one of the four Malaysia Airlines flights chartered by the cruise liner.
“They initially said maybe we (the Malaysian health authorities) were not following all the standards and procedures (with regards to the detection of Covid-19).
“Upon explanation by (Health director-general) Datuk Dr Noor Hisham (Abdullah), they agreed that our health protocol is of world-class standard.
“It is not a false negative, but a confirmed positive,” Dr Wan Azizah told reporters, here, today.
Present with Dr Wan Azizah was Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad. Also in attendance were Dr Noor Hisham, National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) director-general Datuk Mohtar Abd Rahman and Immigration Department director-general Datuk Khairul Dzaimee Daud.
Dr Wan Azizah was responding to a report by Reuters which stated that Cambodian authorities had called on Malaysia to review its test result involving the American woman, which is the 22nd confirmed Covid-19 case in Malaysia.
According to the report, the cruise ship carrying 1,455 passengers and 802 crew docked at Cambodian port of Sihanoukville on Thursday, about two weeks after being turned away by Japan, Taiwan, Guam, the Philippines and Thailand.
The report also stated that the passengers were tested regularly when they were on the ship and that Cambodia only tested 20 of the passengers once it docked.
“They only did random sampling on 20 passengers, which I think is less than 10 per cent (of the total number of passengers on board the ship).
“Having said that, we do not want to dispute findings made by others. We will focus on adhering to the health protocol that we have in place in Malaysia.
“Dah sampai pada kita, kita jaga la. (The case has reached our shores, we will take care of it),” Dr Wan Azizah said.
The American woman, said Dr Wan Azizah, was already coughing while her husband was suffering from shortness of breath when the couple arrived in Malaysia.
Asked if Malaysia managed to obtain the woman’s travel history before she boarded the cruise ship, Dr Wan Azizah said the Malaysian authorities only knew that the cruise ship had docked in Hong Kong on Jan 30 before continuing its journey on Feb 1.
“She might have made contact with people when the cruise ship docked in Hong Kong,” she said.
Further tests conducted twice on the husband of the American returned negative. The man, is, however, still receiving treatment as well as being monitored at the hospital due to his symptoms.