Datuk Seri Dzulkefly Ahmad speaks to reporters at the Health Ministry in Putrajaya February 3, 2020. — Picture by Choo Choy May
PUTRAJAYA, Feb 3 — Health Minister Datuk Seri Dzulkefly Ahmad today praised Chinese authorities for their quick action in dealing with the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak in the republic. He said the Chinese government was also transparent in sharing the development of the outbreak which began in Wuhan with the world.
“I must say that China has done extremely well and (also) transparent (this time) as opposed to the earlier SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) episode where they took their time to inform the world.
“However, this time around, I must commend them for taking rigorous steps such as locking down Wuhan,” he said in a news conference on coronavirus infection update here.
Meanwhile, he said the Asean Senior Officials’ Meeting on Health Development was currently ongoing here and was also attended by China, Japan and South Korea.
Among issues discussed at the meeting are the latest development of the coronavirus infection and vaccine development, he said.
On Malaysia’s coronavirus positive cases, he said as of noon today the cumulative number of cases remained at eight. — Bernama