PETALING JAYA, Mar 6 (Sin Chew Daily) — UDA Holdings Berhad chairman Datuk Hisham Hamdan admitted that he was the 26th confirmed COVID-19 case of the country.

In a statement today, Hisham insisted that when he was in Shanghai for a conference between January 13 and 17, there was only one confirmed coronavirus case reported in the whole of China in Wuhan and that the first reported case in Shanghai was on January 20, after he returned to Malaysia.

He said the Malaysian health ministry only issued an advisory against traveling to China on January 25, a week after he returned to the country, while WHO declared a "public health emergency of international concern" only on January 30.

"This all happened well after I returned from Shanghai."

He said his earliest close contact with a COVID-19 patient was from a meeting on February 21.

"My Shanghai visit was not linked to my positive confirmation," he asserted.