The Minister of Health has confirmed two more cases of the Wuhan novel coronavirus on Monday (10 Feb). This brings the total number of infected cases to 45.
One is a Certis Cisco officer who served quarantine orders on two infected cases and the other was a Singaporean who was evacuated from Wuhan.
A total of 23 cases in Singapore resulted from local transmission.
Of the 23 locally transmitted cases, epidemiological investigations and contact tracing have uncovered links between 15 of the cases with the three currently known clusters.
Contact tracing is underway for the other eight locally transmitted cases, including Case 44, to establish if they are linked to previous cases or persons with travel history to mainland China.
New confirmed cases
Case 44 is a 37 year-old male Singapore Citizen with no recent travel history to China. He is currently warded in an isolation room at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital (KTPH).
Case 45 is a two year-old female Singapore Citizen who was evacuated from Wuhan on 30 January.
Update on cases and contact tracing
To date, a total of seven cases have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospital. Of the 38 confirmed cases who are still in hospital, most are stable or improving. Seven are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.
As of 10 February 2020, 12pm, 581 of the suspect cases have tested negative for 2019-nCoV, and 45 have tested positive. Test results for the remaining 39 cases are pending.
Contact tracing for the confirmed cases is ongoing. Once 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 active surveillance, and will be contacted daily to monitor their health status.
As of 10 February 2020, 12pm, MOH has identified 1,026 close contacts. Of the 927 who are still in Singapore, 896 have been contacted and are being quarantined or isolated. Efforts are ongoing to contact the remaining 31 close contacts.
MOH: No evidence of transmission through aerosol
MOH states in its press release that it has looked into reports that the novel coronavirus could be transmitted through aerosol.
MOH cited an expert from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention who said that there is currently no evidence that the virus can be transmitted through aerosol.
The currently known transmission routes of the virus are via respiratory droplets and physical contact.
The coronavirus epidemic has killed more than 900 people and infected more than 40,000, most of them in mainland China.
