Health Minister S Subramaniam, in giving this advice, said married couples who have tested positive for the Zika virus must have protected sex, in order not to infect their partners with the disease, as well as to prevent pregnancy, The Star reported.

This follows the latest reported Zika case in Johor Baru, involving a woman who is four months pregnant. The woman’s husband works in Singapore.

According to Subramaniam, there were two possible ways the 27-year-old woman could have been infected – either from her husband who has the virus but shows no signs or symptoms, or from an infected person in Johor Baru through a mosquito bite.

“We are waiting for the test results on the husband. Tests were only done on him after she was confirmed positive, as he wasn’t ill,” he was quoted as saying by The Star.

Subramaniam added that all pregnant women who display signs and symptoms of Zika, and are confirmed positive, will be warded, while those who do not display any symptoms, but have a partner with the virus, will have a confirmatory test done on them.

He advised those who commute between Johor Baru and Singapore frequently, to have insect repellent handy, to avoid being bitten by mosquitoes.

He added that about 80 per cent of those who have the Zika virus do not show any signs of being ill despite having the virus in their body.

The Zika virus, which is borne by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, can be spread through sexual intercourse, unlike dengue, the other disease carried by the insect.

Doctors have said that women infected with Zika should either abstain or have protected sex for at least two months from the time they are tested positive while men need to practise safe sex up to six months as the virus is found to persist longer in semen.

According to The Star, the Johor Baru woman is the first pregnant woman detected with the Zika virus so far in Malaysia.

The first two cases involved a 58-year-old in Klang, who has since been discharged from the hospital, and a 61-year-old man in Sabah, who died of other morbid health issues, including heart complications.