As of Saturday, no malaria patient was discharged from hospitals in Perak as they have not fully recovered, says state health department director Datuk Dr Juita Ghazalie.

She said the total number of patients admitted to the Grik Hospital remained at 65, while eight more were treated at the Kuala Kangsar Hospital.

She added patients would only be allowed to be discharged from a hospital after their blood samples tested negative for malaria.

"Even after being discharged, they will be placed at the hostel of Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Sultan Idris Shah II, Gerik which has been made into a transit centre for follow-up treatment.

"The patient will be administered primaquine for 14 days, as well as come under direct observation therapy (DOTS) by hospital staff," Dr Juita said in a statement here yesterday.

As of Saturday, she said there were 79 malaria infection cases at Pos Kemar, two more than on Friday.

She said the two new cases were detected at Kampung Sah and Kampung Lediau while Kampung Senangit still recorded the highest number of malaria cases at 61 patients.

The plasmodium vivax (P Vivax) malaria species was detected in Pos Kemar, Grik about 150km from here on Nov 16 after three villagers were confirmed infected. --Bernama