On Sunday (26 Jan), an online petition calling for the ban of Chinese Nationals from entering Malaysia has been launched which has garnered the support of over 370,000 individuals.
The originator of the petition, Muhammad Zaim Yusran Mohd Zaidy, voiced that it is crucial that the entry of Chinese nationals be barred to the country due to the recent outbreak of Coronavirus (2019-nCoV).
“The new virus is widely spread throughout the world because of its unhygienic lifestyle… The government should think more about the health of Malaysians. Don’t wait until there is death among Malaysian people then only the government wants to take some preventive action,” Mr Zaim wrote on his petition page.
As of now, the exact cause and origin of the 2019-nCoV are still being investigated by health officials.
The petition, which went online yesterday on change.org, now at the time of writing, has 376,000 signatures out of its 500,000 target goal.
In countries like Hong Kong, Japan, Vietnam, South Korean, France, Thailand, the US, Macau and Singapore, the cases of c2019-nCoV have been identified.
A fourth case of the coronavirus was recorded yesterday in Malaysia. A 40-year-old-man from Wuhan, China reached Johor Baru by bus from Singapore on Wednesday (22 Jan).
The infected man, who came with his wife and child, was a part of a group of 17 Chinese tourists.
After screening the remaining individuals from the group, Johor State Health Department found that they do not exhibit any potential symptoms. Nonetheless, they are under quarantined in a designated area awaiting the results of further testing.
On Friday (24 Jan), sales domestic and international tours are suspended by order from China’s central government to travel agencies. This is an effort to contain the virus spread.
Travel restrictions into Wuhan and a dozen other cities have been imposed by the Chinese government and with this some 56 million people are now restricted in their movements so that the virus does not spread.
The Philippines government had repatriated 500 Chinese tourists who came from Wuhan back to its home country on last Friday.
At the news of the outbreak, all foreign visitors had been banned from entering the country by North Korea.
On a similar note, many other countries have advised their people to not travel to Wuhan if it is only non-essential travelling.
