Wuhan coronavirus: First infected Singaporean among 3 new cases, bringing tally to 16

SINGAPORE — A 47-year-old Singaporean woman is among the latest batch of three people who have tested positive for the Wuhan coronavirus, bringing the number of imported cases here to 16.

In a press release on Friday (Jan 31), the Ministry of Health (MOH) said that she was one of the Singaporeans who was evacuated from Wuhan — along with 91 other Singaporeans on a Scoot flight — at about 7am on Thursday and arrived in Singapore at about 11.40am on the same day.

The three new confirmed cases are all people with a recent travel history to Wuhan in the Hubei province, MOH added, as it pointed out that there is still no evidence of community spread in Singapore.

BACKGROUND OF NEW PATIENTS

The 14th patient is a 31-year-old male Chinese national who is a Singapore Work Pass holder. After a trip to Hubei, he arrived in Singapore from Wuhan on Jan 26. He is now warded in an isolation room at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID).

The man reported that he was asymptomatic during his flight to Singapore and later developed symptoms on Jan 28. 

He sought medical treatment at a general practitioner clinic on Thursday, and was taken by an ambulance to NCID, where he was immediately isolated.

Test results confirmed he was infected by the Wuhan coronavirus at about 11pm on Thursday.

The Singaporean is the 15th case to be confirmed.

The 47-year-old showed no symptoms when she boarded the flight, but arriving at Changi Airport, she was found to have a fever during medical screening and was taken to NCID. 

She tested positive for the coronavirus on Friday at about 2pm and is warded in an isolation room at NCID.

She and the 91 Singaporeans would have been subjected to quarantine upon their return. National Development Minister Lawrence Wong had said on Thursday that the quarantine measure was an added measure as those evacuated were not symptomatic. He had also revealed that there remain some Singaporeans who were unable to come back as they were already showing symptoms and it was "not safe" for them to be on the same plane as the 92.

The 16th case is a 38-year-old male Chinese national who arrived in Singapore from Wuhan on Jan 22. 

He tested positive for Wuhan coronavirus infection on Friday at about 2pm and is in an isolation room at Singapore General Hospital.

The conditions of the three patients are stable.

MOH said that it has started epidemiological investigations and contact tracing to identify individuals who had close contact with them.

As for the 13 earlier cases, none is critically ill, the ministry said. All of them remain in stable condition, and most are improving, it added.

MORE ON THE 13TH CASE

On Friday, the MOH also gave more details on the 13th case, which was announced on Jan 30.

The infected individual – a 73-year-old female Chinese national who arrived in Singapore from Wuhan on Jan 21 – had visited Changi Airport and Jewel and had travelled on private transport and taxi.

Prior to her admission to the NCID on Jan 28, she had stayed at two hotels: ParkRoyal Collection Pickering in the Chinatown area and Oasia Hotel Downtown in Tanjong Pagar.

The ministry added that she was a close contact of the second confirmed case, so multiple attempts were made to contact her immediately. She was subsequently located on Jan 28 and she reported having developed symptoms that same day.

She was then taken in an ambulance to the NCID, where she was immediately isolated.

UPDATE ON SUSPECTED CASES

As of midday on Friday, 198 of the suspect cases have tested negative for the Wuhan coronavirus, and 16 have tested positive, with case number 15 and 16 being confirmed at about 2pm.

Test results for the remaining 35 cases are pending, MOH said.

Contact tracing for the confirmed cases is ongoing. Once identified, MOH will closely monitor all close contacts.

As a precautionary measure, these contacts will be quarantined for 14 days from their last exposure to the patient. In addition, all other identified contacts who have a low risk of being infected will be under active surveillance, and will be contacted daily to monitor their health status.

CONTACT TRACING

As of midday on Friday, MOH has identified 202 close contacts. Of the 162 who are still in Singapore, 156 have been contacted and are being quarantined or isolated.

Efforts are still ongoing to contact the remaining six close contacts.

MOH reiterated that it will continue to monitor the situation closely. 

“As medical practitioners are on the lookout for cases with pneumonia who have recently been in China, Singapore is likely to see more suspect cases that will need to be investigated for possible links to the Wuhan cluster,” it said.