Singapore reports three more China coronavirus cases, bringing its total to 10
- All three of the new cases are Chinese nationals who travelled from Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak
- The health ministry says this is consistent with its assessment that more imported cases are expected from Hubei province
The city state currently has 70 suspected cases, and has ruled out 124 others.
The three new cases include a married couple from Wuhan, both aged 56, who arrived in Singapore on January 19, according to the Ministry of Health.
They developed symptoms five days later, and are now warded in isolation rooms at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID).
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The third case is a 56-year-old Chinese national who arrived in Singapore from Wuhan on January 20.
He developed symptoms the next day, and was identified as a suspected case at a health screening station at Marina South Pier. He has also been admitted to the NCID.
All three are in a stable condition, the health ministry said in a statement, adding that it had started contact tracing to identify individuals who had close contact with them.
It had identified 144 close contacts as of noon on Wednesday, 115 of which are in Singapore. Of those, 111 have been contacted and are being quarantined or isolated.
The health ministry added that the three cases, all of whom are Chinese nationals who travelled from Wuhan, were consistent with its assessment that more imported cases are expected from Hubei province.
Environment and water minister Masagos Zulkifli had on the same day reiterated that there was no evidence of local transmission or community spread of the Wuhan coronavirus thus far.
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Singapore’s measures to tackle the spread of the novel coronavirus include turning away visitors from Hubei province who do not already hold visas to the island nation.
It has also heightened border controls, extending its temperature checks from the airport to the Woodlands and Tuas land checkpoints between Singapore and Malaysia, as well as sea checkpoints, including ferry and cruise terminals and the Jurong Port.
