A 24-year-old Zimbabwean student is under investigation for Ebola and has been admitted at an isolation ward of the Sarawak General Hospital since last night, Sarawak Assistant Minister for Public Health Dr Jerip Susil said today.

He said the male student from a private university campus in Kuching had developed cough, severe body ache and high fever, among the early symptoms related to Ebola, after being in contact with a group of Nigerian students who had just returned to Sarawak from their home country.

"He (the Zimbabwean student) had been referred to a private specialist hospital here (but) because of the symptoms and because of him having contacts with the Nigerian students, he was later referred to the Sarawak General Hospital," he told a hastily-called press conference at his office in Petra Jaya.

He said the Nigerian students had been found to be in good health but the state health authority is keeping them in isolation at the campus for the time being pending further medical checks on them.

"Even though they are healthy we also do an extensive investigation on all the Nigerian students who had gone back to Nigeria and come back to our State," he said.
    
Jerip (left) said samples obtained from the affected student were currently being analysed by the State Epidemiology Unit and it might take at least about a week before the result from the analysis could be obtained.

He said the public should not panic as the State Medical Department was taking all the required disease preventive measures.

"We want to be very sure... even though we have this situation (where it is not confirmed yet whether the student has Ebola) we are putting ourselves in a high precautionary state," he added.

Don't panic, it's only SOP

Meanwhile, Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah confirmed that there is no Ebola virus case in Malaysia.

However, he gave his assurance that the Health Department will monitor closely for the virus and that the people need not panic following the report that a foreign student at a private institution of higher learning is being quarantined at the Sarawak General Hospital.

"This is a standard operating procedure where hospital staff are taking precautions.
    
"The student has no history of international travel records or came into contact with an Ebola patient in the past 21 days before showing the symptoms," he told Bernama today.

He also stressed that if there was an Ebola case in Malaysia, the ministry will be the first to announce it and will also inform the World Health Organisation (WHO).   
    
Noor Hisham also said for the time being, Zimbabwe is not listed as an Ebola infected country.
   
- Bernama