SINGAPORE: Two more people have tested positive for the Wuhan virus in Singapore, bringing the total number of cases to three, the Ministry of Health announced on Friday (Jan 24).
The new patients include the 37-year-old son of the first confirmed case, MOH said in a media briefing on Friday afternoon.
AdvertisementAdvertisementThe second new confirmed case is a 53-year-old woman from Wuhan who arrived in Singapore on a Scoot flight at 5.30am on Jan 21, and developed a fever, cough and chills in the afternoon, said MOH.
She sought medical attention at Raffles Hospital the next day and was later taken to the emergency department at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, where she was immediately isolated.
MOH was notified of a suspect case at 3am on Jan 23. The woman subsequently tested positive for the virus at midnight.
The woman stayed at J8 Hotel and visited Orchard Road, Marina Bay Sands and Gardens by the Bay, MOH said.
AdvertisementAdvertisementShe is currently warded at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases and is in a stable condition.
There have been a total of 44 suspect cases in Singapore; the patients are aged between 1 and 78 years old. Thirteen of them have tested negative.
[h=3]READ: PM Lee says Singapore 'better prepared' for another virus after SARS outbreak[/h]The latest update comes after Singapore announced on Thursday its first confirmed case, a 66-year-old Wuhan resident who arrived in Singapore from Guangzhou on Jan 20.
He is in isolation at the Singapore General Hospital and in a stable condition, authorities said.
Contact tracing has been initiated to identify about 30 people seated near the man during his flight to Singapore. His nine travel companions have also been identified. One of them was his 37-year-old son, who is now confirmed as having the virus. The other eight have left Singapore.
The man stayed at Shangri-La's Rasa Sentosa Resort and Spa and indicated that he kept within the hotel vicinity.
[h=3]READ: Singapore confirms first case of Wuhan virus[/h]The news of Singapore's first confirmed case came a day after Health Minister Gan Kim Yong announced the formation of a multi-ministerial task force to deal with the situation.
Authorities also announced on Thursday that border screening will be expanded to all land and sea checkpoints, while a travel advisory has been expanded for Singaporeans to avoid travelling to Hubei province, where Wuhan city is located.
Earlier on Thursday, schools in Singapore sent out a notice to parents asking that they declare their travel plans for the Chinese New Year weekend beginning on Friday.
Meanwhile, Singapore Airlines' budget carrier Scoot has cancelled its daily flight to Wuhan as a precautionary measure.
Singapore businesses with a presence in Wuhan have also taken measures. ST Engineering, which has rail projects in Wuhan, has stopped all business commutes there.
[h=3]READ: WHO says 'bit too early' to declare coronavirus a global emergency[/h]On Friday, China reported that the number of people infected by the SARS-like virus had exceeded 800, with 25 deaths.
The National Health Commission said authorities were also examining 1,072 suspected cases of the virus that first emerged in central city of Wuhan.
The markedly higher numbers were released just hours after the World Health Organization called the outbreak "an emergency in China", but stopped short of declaring the situation a global health emergency.
China has effectively quarantined more than 20 million people across Wuhan and some nearby cities in response to the virus, and announced measures to curb its spread nationwide as hundreds of millions of people began travelling across the country this week for the Chinese New Year holiday.
Streets and shopping centres in Wuhan, a major industrial and transport hub, are now eerily quiet after authorities told residents not to leave the city of 11 million, where most of the cases have been identified.
The virus, which causes respiratory symptoms similar to a cold or flu, has been linked to a seafood market in Wuhan. That market has since been shut down.
The virus has spread to Beijing, Shanghai and Chongqing, as well as provinces in northeastern, central and southern China.
Across the world, confirmed cases have also been reported in Hong Kong, Japan, Macau, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States.
[h=3]MORE: Our coverage on the Wuhan virus and its developments[/h]Follow us on Telegram for the latest updates: https://cna.asia/telegram
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