Zika in Malaysia: Perak govt enforce checks at Ipoh airport

The Perak government is to enforce measures to detect people with Zika virus infection at the Sultan Azlan Shah Airport here, considering that there are direct flights between Ipoh and Singapore.

Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Zambry Abd Kadir said today the state executive council would instruct the state director of health to convey the matter to the airport authorities.

The state government would collaborate with the Health Ministry to check the spread of the virus, he told reporters after a meeting of the state executive council that he had chaired.

Singapore had confirmed that 115 people in the republic had contracted the disease, which is spread mainly through the bite of the Aedes mosquito.

"We will collaborate with the Health Ministry in carrying out surveillance to monitor the spread of the Zika virus," Zambry said.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr S. Subramaniam announced today that Malaysia had recorded its first Zika case when a woman in Bandar Botanic, Klang, Selangor, tested positive for the disease a week after returning from Singapore on Aug 21.