KUALA LUMPUR: Seven crew members from a Malindo flight to China have been quarantined up to 14 days in Zhengzhou in Henan province in the People’s Republic of China.
This was after the crew members came in contact with a passenger from Hubei province on-board, who is suspected to be infected with the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV).
“These crew operated flight from Kuala Lumpur to Zhengzhou located in Henan on Jan 24.
“Malindo Air is closely monitoring the situation and providing all necessary assistance to the crew as well as authorities in China, to minimise the spread of the coronavirus,” the airline said in a series of tweets.
It added that proactive screening of passengers on the ground and tighter control over the movement of our passengers for all flights to and from Mainland China is ongoing.
In addition, Malindo Air said all Chinese passengers from Hubei province (as shown in passport) must produce medical certificate to proof that they are fit to fly.
“Passengers who are found unfit to travel will be denied to board the flight,” it said.
The airline said that passengers can contact the Malindo Air Customer Care team customer_care@malindoair.com or call +603-7841 5388 (8:00am - 10pm) to cancel or change their travel plans.
The deadly coronavirus has spread across Asia, with confirmed cases being reported in several countries.
Chinese authorities are working round-the-clock to stop the spread of the virus by imposing lockdown on its cities involving tens of million people and severe travel restrictions.
The airborne-spread virus has claimed 56 lives across China since its outbreak reported on Dec 31, 2019.
While most confirmed case of the virus are in China, the number of coronavirus cases confirmed outside its first epicentre in Wuhan has risen to 14 countries, including Australia, Singapore and Malaysia.
Cases have also been reported in Japan, South Korean, Thailand, Macau, Singapore, United States, France, Vietnam and Hong Kong.