No monkeypox in Malaysia yet, Khairy says
KUALA LUMPUR, July 8 — Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin today said Malaysia still has no confirmed cases of monkeypox.
He said despite a Malaysian resident in Singapore testing positive, there were no monkeypox cases detected in Malaysia so far.
“The individual is a 45-year-old man who resides in Singapore, and showed symptoms of skin lesions on June 30 and was confirmed positive of monkeypox on July 6,” he told a press conference at the Parliament building here today.
From the investigations, Khairy said the individual was in Johor Baru from June 11 to 16 and in Penang from June 17 to 20.
However, he had been asymptomatic on those dates.
“On July 2 and July 3, the individual again travelled to Johor Baru, and by then he showed symptoms.
“The Ministry of Health (MOH) has already investigated the individual who tested positive and he has already willingly provided information on his close contacts whom MOH has identified 15 close contacts and 14 casual contacts,” he said.
Khairy added that the cause of the infection is still under investigation, but the MOH has already informed the 14 casual contacts to conduct health screening to monitor any symptoms.
“If they notice any symptoms, they have to immediately go to MOH health facilities for isolation and treatment.
“Based on the risk assessments that we made, there is no need for isolation for the 14 casual contacts.
“However, we will continue to monitor to ensure that there will be no further infected cases from the said individual, and all those who have been close contact or casual contact when he was in Johor and in Penang,” he said.
He also assured that the MOH will continue to work closely with Singaporean counterparts to complete the investigation and new information will be shared to the local points of both countries.
