KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysian senior citizen couple on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship who have been tested positive for Covid-19 are in stable condition.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said the 71-year-old male and his 66-year-old wife tested positive for the coronavirus on Feb 16 and are currently receiving treatment at Fujita Hospital in Nagoya, Japan.
“The other Malaysian passenger, a 61-year-old female, was found to be negative for Covid-19 infection and has since been allowed to travel back home to Malaysia by the Japanese health authorities upon completion of her 14-day quarantine period.
“Another Malaysian, a 45-year-old male crew member of the vessel is currently being monitored on board,” he said after attending the Universiti Malaya Mental Health Initiative programme today.
He said the cruise ship has undergone quarantine at one of the seaports in Japan since Feb 4 following the confirmation of infections amongst its passengers.
On the MV Genting Dream cruise ship which called at Port Klang today, Dzulkefly said the vessel had docked at the Boustead Cruise Centre at about noon.
He said the ship arrived from Singapore and would depart back to the republic at 11pm today.
“There were a total of 957 passengers on board of about 15 nationalities, including Brunei, Canada, Czech Republic, Great Britain, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, USA and Vietnam,” he said.
“As of 3pm today, 350 passengers and 230 crew members who disembarked from the ship have been screened by Health Ministry’s officials,” he said.
Dr Dzulkefly said those screened showed no symptoms for Covid-19.
“Those who didn’t disembark from the ship were not screened,” he said.
On a related development, he said two more patients had recovered from Covid-19 and had been discharged yesterday evening.
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Meanwhile, on whether the Cabinet has decided to extend the ban on Chinese nationals from entering Malaysia for a full month to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, he called for all to wait for announcement by the Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, who is the National Disaster Management Agency chairman, on the matter.
The outbreak of Covid-19 in Wuhan, China, last December, saw the disease spreading to 27 countries. Up to 75,725 cases have been reported with 2,128 deaths, mainly in China. A total of 16,108 people have also recovered from the disease.
At the event, Dzulkefly witnessed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between UM and Johnson & Johnson.
UM was represented by the university’s deputy vice-chancellor (research and innovation) Prof Dr Noorsaadah Abdul Rahman and Johnson & Johnson Malaysia, managing director Chin Keat Chyuan.
Dr Dzulkefly said the MoU would involve teaching innovation and learning in healthcare.
“Through this partnership, there is a component on mental health which is timely and important. There is no health without mental health, and this inclusion will certainly benefit the ministry through the #Letstalkmindasihat initiative launched in October last year,” he said.
He said the World Health Organisation estimated that mental health problems affect one in four people worldwide.
“In Malaysia, this was found to affect nearly three in 10 Malaysians based on the 2015 National Morbidity Health Survey,” he said.
He said a comprehensive mental health programme #Letstalkmindasihat is managed by the Disease Control Division of the ministry.
Dr Dzulkefly said among issues related to mental health among youths include depression, anxiety and stress as well as suicidal tendencies which required detection and early intervention.