SINGAPORE: Singapore has recorded its first cases of local coronavirus transmission, with four women here infected who had not travelled to Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak.
Two work at Yong Thai Hang, a Chinese health products shop in Cavan Road in Lavender which caters to Chinese tour groups.
The third is a maid of one of the women, while the fourth is a tour guide who had taken groups to the same shop.
The tour group in question has since returned to China.
Two more confirmed cases were also announced yesterday.
The two were among a group of 92 people flown back to Singapore from Wuhan on a Scoot flight last Thursday.
Before this, another two on the same flight had been reported as confirmed cases.
In total, there are now 24 confirmed cases in Singapore.
The new cases constitute “limited local transmission”, the Health Ministry said yesterday.
“There is however no evidence of widespread community transmission,” said Health Minister Gan Kim Yong at a press conference.
“It is possible that there could be a broader community spread despite our best efforts,” he told reporters.
Should that happen, Singapore will consider additional measures to reduce human-to-human interactions, such as cancelling mass gatherings, suspending schools, and paring down non-essential care services, to slow the spread of disease.
The country has prepared for such clusters, and measures implemented so far have been directed towards preventing and containing the risk of spread beyond such local clusters, to the broader community, the ministry said.
As surveillance has been stepped up, more such local clusters are expected, including more cases of local transmission, it added.
The ministry has also started contact tracing so as to ring-fence the cluster and limit further spread.
Cases with limited community transmission are not unexpected, said Gan, who co-chairs a multi-ministry task force to defend the country against the virus.
“This is a scenario which we are prepared for,” he said, noting that efforts will help reduce the risk of escalation.
“As the situation evolves, we will step up our posture accordingly to further contain the situation in Singapore.” — The Straits Times/ANN
Two work at Yong Thai Hang, a Chinese health products shop in Cavan Road in Lavender which caters to Chinese tour groups.
The third is a maid of one of the women, while the fourth is a tour guide who had taken groups to the same shop.
The tour group in question has since returned to China.
Two more confirmed cases were also announced yesterday.
The two were among a group of 92 people flown back to Singapore from Wuhan on a Scoot flight last Thursday.
Before this, another two on the same flight had been reported as confirmed cases.
In total, there are now 24 confirmed cases in Singapore.
The new cases constitute “limited local transmission”, the Health Ministry said yesterday.
“There is however no evidence of widespread community transmission,” said Health Minister Gan Kim Yong at a press conference.
“It is possible that there could be a broader community spread despite our best efforts,” he told reporters.
Should that happen, Singapore will consider additional measures to reduce human-to-human interactions, such as cancelling mass gatherings, suspending schools, and paring down non-essential care services, to slow the spread of disease.
The country has prepared for such clusters, and measures implemented so far have been directed towards preventing and containing the risk of spread beyond such local clusters, to the broader community, the ministry said.
As surveillance has been stepped up, more such local clusters are expected, including more cases of local transmission, it added.
The ministry has also started contact tracing so as to ring-fence the cluster and limit further spread.
Cases with limited community transmission are not unexpected, said Gan, who co-chairs a multi-ministry task force to defend the country against the virus.
“This is a scenario which we are prepared for,” he said, noting that efforts will help reduce the risk of escalation.
“As the situation evolves, we will step up our posture accordingly to further contain the situation in Singapore.” — The Straits Times/ANN
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