A possible death from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) in Kuching was reported to the Health Ministry today.

A 21-year-old male inmate of the Sentosa mental hospital died in the Kuching hospital at 4.30am today, deputy director-general of health Dr Mohd Ismail Merican revealed during his daily briefing.

Post mortem

The patient was admitted to the Kuching hospital o­n Sunday after developing fever and cough. The ministry had earlier said the man's chest X-rays showed changes in the lungs.

Although initial diagnosis showed that the man died of bacterial pneumonia, the ministry has nevertheless ordered the forensic pathologist team to conduct a post mortem.

Asked if the death of someone so young could be related to Sars, Mohd Ismail (left) said "it is not strange" (that young people should die), but promised more details tomorrow.

The man and three female inmates were warded at the Kuching hospital after a fellow inmate, a 44-year-old woman, died o­n April 22. Health authorities are probing if the woman's death was due to Sars.

A total of 597 people in Sarawak have been placed under quarantine in the mental hospital and Kuching hospital after the death. The mental hospital and the female ward of the Kuching hospital have been sealed off for 10 days since Sunday.

The quarantine order was issued after a 74-year-old patient of the mental hospital was admitted to the Kuching hospital with an upper respiratory tract infection. The woman was visited by three relatives from Hong Kong, but the three are reportedly free of the disease now.

Meanwhile, Mohd Ismail pledged that whoever - "VIP or non-VIP" - arrives from countries that are highly affected by Sars must go through screening and declare their health status.

He was asked to comment o­n media reports saying Sars-screening is not thoroughly conducted at all airports in Malaysia, especially for those arriving o­n transit flights from Sars-stricken countries.

Mohd Ismail urged members of the media or passengers to provide the flight number to the ministry for further investigation.

New suspected cases

Mohd Ismail said nine notification cases were reported yesterday, four of them suspected cases. All have been isolated at designated hospitals.

A two-year-old boy from Pahang is among them, the youngest patient to date. He had returned from Shanghai with his family o­n April 20, but the other four family members have been cleared of the disease.

The remaining three suspected cases are males aged between 22 to 33 and had visited Singapore.

Although nine people were discharged from designated hospitals yesterday, the number of patients isolated remained at 26 because of the additional nine cases overnight.

The 26 include o­ne probable, ten suspected and 11 notification cases, while four more are pending confirmation.

The number under quarantine dropped to 626 after 239 people linked to the Sars-infected Pasir Panjang wholesale market in Singapore were cleared yesterday. Of the total, 597 are in Sarawak, while 29 others are connected to the sixth probable patient in Penang hospital.

Probable deaths

Malaysia has reported two probable deaths for Sars to date. The first is a 64-year-old man from Jerantut who died o­n March 30, while the second is a 26-year-old tour manager from Penang who died o­n April 22.

Post-mortem reports for another three deaths believed due to Sars are pending for a 21-year-old man and 44-year-old woman in Sarawak; and a 30-year-old Thai woman married to a Malaysian in Perak.

Two deaths at the Kuala Lumpur Hospital and Tengku Ampuan Rahimah hospital in Klang are being respectively attributed to a heart attack and a "new form of influenza-like virus".

According to the World Health Organisation's latest figures, 5,542 Sars cases have been reported in 29 countries, with 355 deaths. The latest affected country is South Korea.