KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry today confirmed five new cases of Covid-19 in the country, bringing the tally of infections to 55.
The new cases were revealed by Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah who said these new cases were linked to Case 26.
It was previously reported that Case 26 is an UDA Holdings Bhd board member, who had a history of travelling to Shanghai, China and that he tested positive on Mar 1.
“Two patients namely cases 54 and 55 are first-generation cases in which they have (continuous) direct contact with Case 26.
“The remaining of the new cases (cases 51, 52 and 53) are second-generation cases that have indirect contact with Patient 26,” he told reporters after attending a Covid-19 cluster Working Committee meeting, here.
The more than three-hour long meeting was chaired by Chief Secretary to the Government Datuk Seri Md Zuki Mohd Ali.
On the outcome of the meeting, Dr Noor Hisham said after taking into consideration that the outbreak has now entered the second wave, Malaysians have been advised to postpone travel plans to Lombardo, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna in Italy; Hokkaido in Japan as well as Tehran, Qom and Gilan in Iran.
“A temporary restriction of entry was also decided for all visitors (with the exception of citizens, permanent residents, social pass holders and Malaysian student pass holders) with travel history of visiting the above towns or territories within the last 14 days prior to their arrival in Malaysia,” he said.
It was also decided during the meeting that the government would gazette face masks as a control item under the Control Support Regulations (Prohibition of Exports) 2020 to ensure sufficient supply of face masks for domestic use.