Some 207,000 signatures have been put on an online petition to urge the government to ban Chinese nationals from entering Malaysia.

The petitioner, Muhammad Zaim Yusran Mohd Zaidy, said there was an urgent need to prevent Chinese nationals from entering the country due to the recent outbreak of Coronavirus (2019-nCoV), a.k.a. Wuhan virus.

“The new virus is widely spread throughout the world because of its unhygienic lifestyle," said Muhammad Zaim on the petition page.

"The government should think more about the health of Malaysians. Don't wait until there is death among Malaysian people then only the government wants to take some preventive action."

The petition has a goal of 150,000 signatures.

The petition had gone online on Saturday, Jan. 25 on change.org.

Malaysia has four cases

Malaysia has recorded its fourth case of coronavirus.

The case involves a 40-year-old man from Wuhan, China, who arrived in Johor Baru on Wednesday via bus from Singapore.

The man had come in with a group of 17 Chinese tourists in total, which also included his wife and child.

The group is placed under quarantine in a designated area pending the results of further tests.

A health screening done by the Johor State Health Department found the rest of the group free of any potential symptoms.

China's central government has ordered travel agencies to suspend sales of domestic and international tours on Jan. 24 in a bid to contain the virus outbreak.

The Chinese government had already imposed travel restrictions into Wuhan and a dozen other cities.

Some 56 million people have their movement restricted to contain the outbreak.

On Jan. 24, the Philippines government sent back 500 Chinese tourists hailing from Wuhan.

North Korea has banned all foreign tourists.

Not known what causes virus

To date, health officials are still finding the exact origin and cause of the 2019-nCoV.

Cases of c2019-nCoV have been confirmed in Japan, South Korean, Thailand, Macau, Singapore, the US, France, Vietnam and Hong Kong.

Top photo via Xinhua