18 February 2020
The remaining 105 Malaysians who were airlifted from Wuhan, China in a humanitarian mission recently have been confirmed to be negative for the Covid-19 infection, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail said today.
The deputy prime minister said they are being discharged from the quarantine facility in Bandar Enstek in Nilai, Negri Sembilan starting from 2pm today.
“I have good news. The Malaysians and their foreign spouses that was quarantined at the Higher Education Leadership Academy (AKEPT) have been tested negative and all who were held at AKEPT will be discharged after a 14-day monitoring period.
“The discharge process started at 2pm today. I am very relieved,” Dr Wan Azizah told the press.
On February 4, Malaysia airlifted out of China 107 people comprising Malaysians and non-Malaysian spouses and children who had been stranded in coronavirus-hit Wuhan city that has been under a lockdown since January 23.
The evacuation of the 88 Malaysians and 19 non-Malaysian next-of-kin was completed in just over 14 hours, with a special AirAsia aircraft departing KL International Airport 2 (klia2) at 3.50pm on Monday (Feb 3) and returning to KLIA with the evacuees by 6am Tuesday.
Previously, Dr Wan Azizah, who is also the National Disaster Management Agency (NADMA) chairman, said in a statement that after the flight returned to KLIA, the 107 evacuees were ferried by bus to the Air Disaster Unit (ADU) at KLIA for a health screening.
Two of the 107 failed the screening and were taken to Kuala Lumpur Hospital while the rest were sent to AKEPT.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dzulkefly Ahmad later confirmed that the father-son duo who initially tested positive for Covid-19 on arrival here have also been cured and allowed to return home.
He said the two, labelled as cases No.11 and No.12 locally, were discharged today from Hospital Tuanku Jaafar in Seremban, Negri Sembilan, after their tests results for Covid-19 were negative.
“For both these cases, they had received treatment in the wards and underwent two consecutive screening tests, which both came back with negative results,” he said during a press conference at the Health Ministry here this afternoon.
On the repatriation of the 34 Malaysians and their family still stranded in Wuhan, China, the minister said Nadma and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) were working on this.
“Nadma are arranging the matter and we will wait for Nadma’s report and on their cooperation with MoFA.
“We will wait for MoFA and Nadma, and I am confident information will be communicated through the deputy prime minister,” he said when asked for an estimated timeline of the exercise.
According to news reports, 34 Malaysians and their family members remain in Wuhan after they missed the initial humanitarian flight home on February 4.
Nadma previously cited logistics and the distribution of the Malaysians all across the Hubei province as obstacles to the repatriation effort.
Source: malaymail.com
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