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Wuhan coronavirus outbreak: 5th case confirmed in Singapore

Two men seen wearing face masks outside the Funan Mall on Monday (27 January). (PHOTO: Dhany Osman / Yahoo News Singapore)
Two men seen wearing face masks outside the Funan Mall on Monday (27 January). (PHOTO: Dhany Osman / Yahoo News Singapore)

SINGAPORE — The fifth imported case of Wuhan coronavirus has been confirmed, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Monday night (27 January).

The case is a 56-year-old female Chinese national from Wuhan who arrived in Singapore with her family on 18 January. She is currently warded in an isolation room at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases and her condition is stable.

The woman reported that she was asymptomatic during the flight to Singapore and later developed symptoms on 24 January. She was conveyed to Tan Tock Seng Hospital on Sunday.

Subsequent test results confirmed her Wuhan coronavirus infection on Monday. She has no known links to the other confirmed cases.

Before hospital admission, the case stayed with her family at their home at Ceylon Road. Since she developed symptoms on 24 January, the case had remained in her home until she was conveyed to hospital on Sunday.

MOH has initiated contact tracing to identify individuals who had close contact with her.

As of Monday, 12pm, apart from the five confirmed cases, 62 of the suspect cases have tested negative for the Wuhan coronavirus. Test results for the remaining 57 cases are pending.

Once a confirmed case is identified, MOH will closely monitor all close contacts. As a precautionary measure, they 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 surveillance, and will be contacted daily to monitor their health status.

As of Monday, 12pm, MOH has identified 115 close contacts from the first four confirmed cases. Of the 86 who are still in Singapore, 75 have been contacted and are being quarantined or isolated. Efforts are ongoing to contact the remaining 11 close contacts.

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