KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 23 — A case of a patient exhibiting Ebola-like symptoms in Malacca was nothing more than training simulation for the central hospital, health officials confirmed today.
An officer from the Health Ministry confirmed that there was no such case of the Ebola virus disease (EVD) in the state as claimed in a tweet by a local Chinese daily.
“It was not an Ebola case but JKN (state health department) organising a training simulation for EVD,” according to a message from the Malacca state health department forwarded to Malay Mail Online by a ministry official.
Earlier today, Chinese newspaper Sin Chew Daily claimed in a tweet that a senior health official in Malacca had confirmed one case of suspected EVD.
The tweet — posted in Chinese script — claimed that Malacca Health Department head Datuk Dr Ghazali Othman confirmed “suspected Ebola-like symptoms” in one patient and that the department was currently investigating the matter.
The department, however, was not yet at the stage of calling for a full quarantine of the state’s central hospital, the tweet added.
Health Ministry director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, meanwhile, maintained the government’s position that there are no cases of EVD in Malaysia.
“There are no suspected cases. They can quote whoever they want, but there are no Ebola cases in this country,” ministry director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah told Malay Mail Online when contacted, referring to the tweet.
Concerns over the spread of the Ebola virus disease surfaced earlier this month after two suspected cases, one each in Perak and Sarawak. Both cases tested negative for the virus.
The virus has infected at least 5,357 people in West Africa this year, mainly in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, killing 2,630 of those, Reuters reported, citing the World Health Organisation. The disease has also been reported in Nigeria and Senegal.
This is the worst outbreak of the haemorrhagic fever, since it was first identified in 1976 in the forests of central Africa.
