PUTRAJAYA: Only four Malaysians were on board the Diamond Princess cruise liner, Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad confirmed today.
He said while two of them have been confirmed positive for Covid-19, the other two are still waiting for their test results.
"Only four Malaysians were in the cruise ship. So far, two were confirmed positive and are receiving treatment in a hospital in Japan,” he said.
Dr Dzulkefly said there were currently no plans to bring them back home as they were undergoing treatment.
"Just like what we do here to patients or cases from other countries, we can only release them (those tested positive) from hospital when they are free from the virus by testing them twice," he said.
He was responding to a question whether the two Malaysians would be brought back to Malaysia for treatments.
Also present at the press conference were the Deputy Health Minister Lee Boon Chye and deputy Health director-general (Public Health) Datuk Dr Chong Chee Kheong.
The Diamond Princess cruise ship was scheduled to dock on Feb 4. However, a 14-day quarantine has been imposed on the passengers on board when 10 people were tested positive for the virus.
Samples for the passengers are taken in batches, Dr Dzulkefly said.
To date, 542 people on the ship have been tested positive, making it the biggest cluster of Covid-19 outbreak outside China.
On another humanitarian mission to evacuate Malaysians in Wuhan, Dr Dzulkefly said the decision would be made by the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) and deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
"So far, there has been no new instruction yet," he said.