Several patients in Ipoh Hospital have been quarantined for the past few days for fear of being infected with the deadly flu-like disease known as severe acute respiratory syndrome or SARS.

However, none of them have been confirmed to have the illness so far, hospital director Dr Ziaudin Ahmed told malaysiakini today.

He said the quarantine was a precautionary measure since the concerned patients were from either Singapore or those who had recently traveled to high-risk countries such as China, Hong Kong or Taiwan.

However, he was quick to dismiss reports in several Chinese dailies that the mysterious illness had reached Malaysia.

"I am not supposed to disclose any information. But I can assure you that there is no confirmed case of SARS here (in Ipoh)," he said in a telephone interview.

In view of this, he reminded the public not to be unnecessarily alarmed. "But it is good if they could take some precautions," he added, without elaborating.

SARS free

Earlier, DAP Youth chairperson Nga Kor Ming (photo) said he visited the hospital with three party state assembly representatives yesterday to look for these patients.

He told malaysiakini that the hospital had refused to cooperate and declined to reveal if the disease - which has infected 1,700 people in 15 countries and killed about 60 - has come to Malaysia.

The Star-online today reported Health Ministry director-general Tan Sri Dr Mohamad Taha Arif as claiming that Malaysia was SARS free.

Mohamad Taha maintained that "there have been no SARS cases, no suspected SARS cases or deaths caused by SARS" despite the ministry's operations centre receiving 41 notifications between March 18 and Sunday.

The newspaper also quoted an Ipoh Hospital spokesperson as saying that precautionary measures have been employed o­n four people - all males - by warding them for observation.

The spokesperson added that all the patients had complained of suffering from flu, fever and also showed signs of having lung infection.

The report also said o­ne of the patients, a man in his 70s, was initially admitted to the Teluk Intan Hospital o­n March 24 after he returned from a tour of Guangdong Province in China a few days earlier.

Standing order

According to Nga, o­ne of the state assembly representatives who visited the hospital with him yesterday was told that the hospital had received a standing order not to reveal any information o­n the disease.

"I would like to challenge (Health Minister) Chua Jui Meng to tell the truth whether the SARS outbreak has reached Malaysia so that members of the public could get the real picture and therefore take necessary precautions.

"The ministry must also educate the public o­n how to avoid it, and not hide it," added Nga, who is the state assembly representative for Pantai Remis and the Perak state assembly opposition leader.

The DAP leader said he tabled a motion in the state assembly sitting today to debate about SARS, but was rejected by speaker Yunus Wahid.

"I will be tabling it again tomorrow as this is a very serious matter and life threatening," he added.

In a related development, DAP chairperson Lim Kit Siang urged Chua to give regular updates o­n SARS cases or deaths.

In a statement today, the veteran politician said the outbreak has long overtaken the Iraq war as the people's foremost concern and the health minister should address this "instead of trotting all over the country to wage the MCA A and B faction power struggle".