The Health Ministry said it has received a report on the first locally-transmitted case of the Zika virus.

The victim is a 61-year-old Dusun male living in Taman Public Jaya Likas, in Likas, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, who had no record of travelling abroad recently.

"It was found that this Zika infection is most likely from a local source of infection as the patient did not have any recent travelling history abroad and was probably been bitten by an Aedes mosquito infected with Zika," Health Ministry director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a statement today.

The patient developed fever on Aug 27 and had sought medical attention at the Luyang Health Clinic three days later.

He sought further treatment at Queen Elizabeth Hospital 2 on Aug 31, when he experienced worsening fever, muscle aches and diarrhoea.

Noor Hisham said the fact that the patient also suffered from multiple other illnesses aggravated his condition.

"The patient also has other co-morbidities, whereby he is suffering from high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, chronic kidney disease, kidney stones and gout.

"Due to his multiple illnesses, the patient’s condition was quite serious when he was first seen in the Emergency and Trauma Department at the hospital.

"Although the test results from the public health laboratory showed that the blood and urine samples of the patient were tested positive for Zika, his serious clinical condition is perhaps due to his existing comorbidities and not primarily due to the Zika infection," Noor Hisham said.

This is the second case of Zika virus infection in the country.

On Thursday, the Health Ministry said a 58-year-old woman from Bandar Botanic, Klang, was infected with the Zika virus after visiting her daughter in Singapore.

Following the latest infection, Noor Hisham said vector control activities were immediately initiated.

"The control activities that were carried out include eliminating Aedes breeding sites, larviciding and fogging.

In addition, those in close contact with the patient will be examined to determine if they have fever or other symptoms of Zika," he said.

In a related development, Noor Hisham said 11 more Malaysians have been infected by Zika virus, based on information from Singapore's Health Ministry.

"Ten of whom live and work in Singapore while one person is working in Singapore but is residing in Johor," he said.

Noor Hisham warned that Zika cases are expected to increase further, especially if prevention activities for Aedes are not taken seriously by the community, individuals and relevant agencies.

"Therefore, the Health Ministry once again emphasises that a clean environment free from Aedes breeding grounds, proactive search and destruction of Aedes breeding sites are conducted at least once weekly by the community, and self-protection from mosquito bites, such as using repellent, is an effective method of preventing the occurrence of Zika cases.

"No Aedes, no Zika and dengue," he said.