First Singaporean case confirmed; she was on Scoot flight from Wuhan

Singapore

A 47-year-old woman who travelled to Wuhan with her family has been confirmed as the first Singaporean with the Wuhan virus.

She was one of the Singaporeans evacuated from Wuhan on Thursday and arrived in Singapore the same day.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) said this on Friday as it confirmed three more cases. This takes the total number of infected cases here to 16 as at 2pm.

The woman was asymptomatic when she boarded the Scoot flight, MOH said.

Upon arrival at Changi Airport, she was found to have a fever during a medical screening, and was taken to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID).

She was tested positive for Wuhan coronavirus infection on Jan 31 at 2pm.

She is currently warded in an isolation room at NCID, and is Singapore's 15th case.

One of the other two new cases is a 31-year-old male Chinese national who is a Singapore work pass holder.

He arrived here from Wuhan on Jan 26 following a trip to Hubei and stayed at his home in Jurong East Street 13.

He said that he was asymptomatic during his flight to Singapore, and subsequently developed symptoms on Jan 28.

He later sought medical treatment at a GP clinic on Jan 30 and was taken by an ambulance to NCID, where he was isolated. He was tested positive for the virus at 11pm the same day.

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 Jan 31 around 2pm and is currently warded in an isolation room at Singapore General Hospital.

MOH also elaborated on Singapore's 13th case, a 73-year-old female Chinese national who arrived in Singapore from Wuhan on Jan 21.

She was a close contact of Singapore's second confirmed case, a 53-year-old female Chinese national from Wuhan who arrived in Singapore on the same day.

MOH said that multiple attempts were made to contact her immediately, and she was later found on Jan 28 and reported having developed symptoms that day.

She was taken by an ambulance to NCID, where she was immediately isolated. She was confirmed as having the virus on Jan 30. Prior to her admission to the hospital, she stayed at ParkRoyal Collection Pickering at 3 Upper Pickering Street, and Oasia Hotel Downtown at 100 Peck Seah Street. She had also visited Changi Airport and Jewel, and travelled on private transport and taxi.

MOH said that the three new cases are in stable condition, and their health is being monitored. It added that there is currently no evidence of community spread in Singapore.

Contact tracing for the confirmed cases is ongoing. Once identified, MOH will closely monitor all close contacts and quarantine them 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 placed under active surveillance, and will be contacted daily to monitor their health.

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

Efforts are ongoing to contact the remaining six close contacts.

MOH said: "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." THE STRAITS TIMES