KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia on Friday confirmed its first case of the A(H1N1) flu in a 21-year-old student who returned from the United States on Wednesday morning.

All passengers on the Malaysia Airlines flight MH091 from Newark on Wednesday are urged to contact the Health Ministry by calling 03-88810200 or 03-88810300

Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the case made Malaysia the 36th country to be affected by the virus.

File Pic: Health officials check passengers from Los Angeles through Taipei at the arrival hall of Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia on April 27. Malaysia has established strict checks since the flu outbreak. - AP

“Malaysia is now on high alert,” said Liow, who is in London now, enroute to Geneva, for a World Health Organisation meeting. He added he would return earlier than his scheduled return next Friday.

Liow said Datuk Seri Kong Cho Ha who is now the acting Health Minister would hold a press conference with the deputy health director general Datuk Dr Ramlee Rahmat at Putra Jaya at 3pm

Meanwhile, A statement by the Health Ministry's director-general, Dr. Ismail Merican, said the young man was hospitalised on Thursday for fever, sore throat and body aches.

Tests confirmed that he was infected with the A(H1N1) virus, the statement said. He is receiving anti-viral treatment and was in stable condition, it said.

Ismail said the ministry had contacted members of his family but they have not been placed under quarantine.

Ismail said his department was taking steps to protect public health and that there was no reason to panic.

Meanwhile, Bernama reported that a man from Bukit Mertajam held under observation at the isolation ward of the Penang Hospital has been declared free of Influenza A (H1N1).

"We just got a report that the blood test on the 26-year-old man was negative," State Health, Welfare, Caring Society and Environment Committee chairman Phee Boon Poh said when contacted by Bernama Friday.

A test on a sample of his blood had been sent to Kuala Lumpur.

The man was kept for observation Thursday after he was found to have fever and symptoms similar to those of Influenza A (H1N1) on his return from the United States.

Two weeks ago, a New Zealand tourist was admitted to the isolation ward of the hospital for suspected Influenza A (H1N1) but a blood test also showed up negative.