SINGAPORE: Singapore reported one new confirmed COVID-19 case on Thursday (Feb 20), bringing the number of cases in the country to 85, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) in a daily update.
Three more patients were discharged from hospital on Thursday, meaning 37 have now fully recovered from the virus.
AdvertisementAdvertisementForty-eight patients remain in hospital, with four in critical condition.
The latest confirmed case is a 36-year-old male work pass holder from China.
He has no recent travel history to China and is currently warded at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID).
Contact tracing of is under way to establish any links to previous cases or travel history to China.
AdvertisementAdvertisement[h=3]Explore our interactive: All the COVID-19 cases in Singapore and the clusters and links between them[/h]Among those discharged on Thursday is Case 66, a 28-year-old Singaporean man who works at Grace Assembly of God church, one of the five known clusters in Singapore.
The other two discharged are Case 6, a 56-year-old man from Wuhan and Case 16, a 38-year-old man from Wuhan. They are not related and not linked to any clusters.
As of noon on Feb 20, MOH has identified 2,616 close contacts who have been quarantined. Of these, 1,147 are currently quarantined, and 1,469 have completed their quarantine.
[h=3]READ: Coronavirus cases in Singapore: Trends, clusters and key numbers to watch???????[/h][h=3]READ: Novel coronavirus in Singapore: What we know about the patients who have fully recovered[/h]Originating in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, COVID-19 has killed more than 2,100 people and infected nearly 75,000, mostly in mainland China.
It has spread to more than 25 countries, including Singapore, Japan and Thailand.
Outside mainland China, 11 people have died from the disease. Iran reported two deaths on Wednesday, the first fatalities in the Middle East. South Korea reported one death on Thursday, and two elderly former passengers from the Diamond Princess died Thursday.
[h=3]READ: COVID-19: Demand for sanitisers, antibacterial soap and thermometers still high, say retailers[/h][h=3]READ: WHO declares 'progress' in fight against coronavirus[/h]Foreign ministers of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China held an emergency meeting on the coronavirus outbreak on Thursday.
Speaking in Laos after talks, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China's efforts to control the outbreak "are working" and that the disease is "controllable and curable" despite the global panic it has seeded.
On Wednesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said it was "very impressed" with Singapore's response to the COVID-19 outbreak.
[h=3]READ: DORSCON - What you need to know about the framework that guides Singapore's pandemic response[/h]Singapore on Feb 7 raised the Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (DORSCON) to Orange, prompting additional precautionary measures.
The country has also set aside S$800 million in Budget 2020 to support frontline agencies in their efforts to contain the COVID-19 outbreak, with the bulk allocated to the Ministry of Health.
The newly announced measures to help firms, workers and households are appropriate for now but the Government is prepared to do more if the situation warrants it, said Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat.
[h=3]BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the novel coronavirus and its developments[/h]Download our app or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on the novel coronavirus outbreak: https://cna.asia/telegram
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