KUALA LUMPUR: Response teams at all international entry points and health facilities across the country have been placed on high alert following an outbreak of a mystery coronavirus in China.

In a message posted on his Facebook page today, Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that all the health units nationwide are standing guard to safeguard the country from the mysterious pneumonia which first emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

He said that at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) Health Office, for instance, thermal scanner desks and health quarantine centres are now in high surveillance mode, Bernama reported.

According to the latest foreign media reports, 139 cases of the new strain of coronavirus have been detected in Wuhan, Beijing and Shenzhen, with three deaths recorded.

Meanwhile, the virus has spread to other countries in the region – two cases emerged in Thailand, one in Japan and one in South Korea. All foreign cases were of people who were from or had travelled to Wuhan.

Previously, Dr Noor Hisham said that the ongoing influenza outbreak in Malaysia is under control and not linked to the Wuhan virus; and that the Health Ministry is closely monitoring the situation both in the country and abroad.