KUALA LUMPUR: AS the second wave of Covid-19 infections has sparked new health concerns in the country, authorities are pulling out all stops to locate “patient zero”, believed to be the origin of the outbreak.
On March 4, the Health Ministry confirmed that a new Covid-19 cluster, involving 14 new cases, were first- and second-generation cases linked to Case 26.
On March 5, five new cases of Covid-19 were linked to Case 26, bringing the total number of infections to 55.
Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the ministry was zooming in on the index case, commonly referred to as “patient zero”.
“The investigation is ongoing,” he told the New Straits Times in a short text message yesterday.
Dr Noor Hisham had earlier said the second wave in the country began on Feb 27, after 11 days of having no new cases.
It was earlier reported that Case 26 was an UDA Holdings Bhd board member, who tested positive on March 1.
The patient had a history of travelling to Shanghai, China, in January, but did not show symptoms until six weeks later.
Yesterday, UDA Holdings board member Hisham Hamdan issued a statement to deny that he was the source of the second wave of the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
Hisham said he began displaying symptoms of the virus almost a month after returning from Shanghai.
He said given that the incubation period for the virus was two weeks, it was not possible for him to have contracted the virus from his trip.
Contact tracing showed that Hisham had attended five public activities on Feb 21, Feb 24 and Feb 27.
“The second wave of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia was linked to me. But being linked to me and having originated from me are two different things,” said Hisham.
“I was at several meetings from Feb 21 to 27 with individuals who have since been confirmed positive for Covid-19. 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.”
It was understood that the ministry believed that Hisham is not the primary carrier and that he did not contract the virus in Shanghai.
Hisham returned home from Shanghai on Jan 17 and began exhibiting symptoms of Covid-19 on Feb 27.
It was reported that Covid-19 infections in the United Kingdom and South Korea had been linked to individuals known as “super-spreaders”.
Last month, a British businessman dubbed a “super-spreader” was believed to have infected 11 others after attending a meeting in Singapore, while a South Korean woman was believed to have infected 37 members of her church congregation last month.
World Health Organisation director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had, on Thursday, stressed that the epidemic could be pushed backwith a coordinated and comprehensive approach that engaged the entire machinery of government.
“If countries act aggressively to find, isolate and treat cases, and to trace every contact, they can change the trajectory of this epidemic,” he said during a press briefing at the agency’s headquarters in Geneva.
“If we take the approach that there’s nothing we can do, that will quickly become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“It’s in our hands.”
WHO officials last week increased the risk assessment of the coronavirus from “high” to “very high” at a global level.
On Tuesday, world health officials said the mortality rate for Covid-19 was 3.4 per cent globally, an increase from its previous estimate of two per cent.