KULAI, Feb 9 — All teachers and students who have just returned from China must undergo 14 days of home quarantine to check the spread of the novel coronavirus 2019 (2019-nCoV) in the country, said Deputy Education Minister Teo Nie Ching.

She said the Education Ministry had issued a directive on this on Jan 30.

"Teachers and students who went to China recently whether for holidays or a visit, they must self-quarantine themselves at home.

"Upon returning, health screening must be done... even if they do not display any symptoms, they must be under home surveillance for 14 days and must not go to their schools,” she said when met by reporters after opening the "Ziarah Cakna Peringkat Kebangsaan Tahun 2020” event here today. 

She said the Education Ministry had also decided to defer registration of students from China at local educational institutions in Malaysia until further notice.

Teo also said that for now, Malaysia would not be following in the footsteps of Singapore in prohibiting outdoor activities at schools as another containment measure, saying the (coronavirus) situation in the two countries was different.

"Besides the steps that we have already taken, we will get advice from the Health Ministry first before barring outdoor activities at schools. So far that is not the case.

"Unlike Malaysia, Singapore has recorded a higher number of cases and it is a city-state where the population density is very high,”she said.

As of yesterday, cumulative positive coronavirus cases in Malaysia stood at 16, involving 12 Chinese nationals and four locals while Singapore recorded 40 cases. — Bernama