SINGAPORE — Village Hotel Sentosa has blocked off the rooms where the fourth confirmed person in Singapore to be infected with the Wuhan coronavirus and his family had stayed in. The hotel has also sent seven staff who had been in contact with the patient to the hospital.

The Ministry of Health confirmed the fourth imported case early on Sunday (Jan 26). He is a 36-year-old Chinese man from Wuhan who arrived in Singapore with his family on Wednesday.

The man and his five other travel companions stayed at Village Hotel Sentosa after their arrival. He developed a cough on Thursday and visited the Sengkang General Hospital on Friday. He was confirmed to have the coronavirus infection at about 9.30pm on Saturday, MOH said.

“We immediately identified all seven staff who were in contact with the guest and made arrangements to send them to the hospital as a precautionary measure,” Mr Albert Ocasio, the hotel’s manager, told TODAY.

The staff went to the hospitals nearest to their homes on Saturday night, he added.

The hotel also vacated and blocked off three rooms which the guest and his family had occupied during their stay.

Two of the three rooms, including the one the 36-year-old man stayed in, had been given to other guests before the hotel received confirmation about his status.

“Immediately after getting the call from MOH, we moved the guests to another room. The hotel and MOH have been in constant contact with the guests all morning,” said Mr Ocasio.

He said that the hotel has also set up a helpdesk for its guests to approach if they have any questions about the situation or if they require medical assistance.

“We are working closely with MOH to make sure the situation is kept under control,” he added.

In addition to the four confirmed cases, there are 31 cases pending confirmation as of 10pm on Saturday, according to MOH’s website.

Singapore’s first case of the Wuhan virus was confirmed on Thursday, with two others on Friday.

The first case was a 66-year-old Wuhan resident who stayed in Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa Resort and Spa with his 37-year-old son, who was later confirmed to have been infected as well. Both are warded in Singapore General Hospital.

The other confirmed case is a 53-year-old woman from Wuhan who tested positive on Friday. She had arrived in Singapore on Tuesday via a Scoot flight and is currently warded at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.