Singapore—Concerns over the novel coronavirus that originated in Wuhan, a city in Hubei, central China, continue to mount as more cases of the infection are confirmed around the world.
To date, over 2,740 people have been infected by the virus, with a death toll of 82. The majority of those infected by the virus live in China, although the disease has been spreading to other countries, with Germany and Sri Lanka being the latest to confirm positive identification of the virus within their borders.
In Singapore, the Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed the fifth case of the Wuhan virus on Monday evening (Jan 27). The latest case is that of a 56 year-old woman. She is a Chinese national from Wuhan, and she and her family arrived in Singapore on January 18.
The woman is presently confined at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) in an isolation room. MOH’s statement says that she is in a stable condition.
One cause for concern is that the newest Wuhan virus patient did not show any symptoms on the disease en route to the country, and only began to fall ill last Friday (Jan 24). On Sunday she was brought to Tan Tock Seng Hospital, was categorized to be suspicious for the Wuhan virus and was put in isolation, before confirmation that she was positive for the virus was made the next day.
The woman has no links to other confirmed cases, MOH says.
The statement adds that the woman stayed in their family home in Ceylon Road since her arrival in Singapore, and when she fell ill she remained there until she was brought to the hospital on Sunday.
The MOH added that it is reaching out to those who may have had close contact with the patient.
The first case of the novel coronavirus was also confirmed in Germany on Monday (Jan 27). An official from the health ministry in Bavaria, in the southern part of the county, confirmed that “a man in the Starnberg region has been infected with the new coronavirus.”
Starnberg is around 30km southwest of Munich, Bavaria’s capital.
The patient is now in isolation and under observation, the official added, and that he is in a “medically good state.”
Similar to the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Spain and Portugal, Germany is looking to evacuate its citizens living in Wuhan, reported Der Spiegel earlier that day.
Der Spiegel added that the government of Germany is talking to Berlin to see whether it can send a military plane to bring its citizens home.
Sri Lanka also saw its first confirmed novel coronavirus patient on Monday. Sudath Samaraweera, the chief epidemiologist with Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Health, told Reuters that “a Chinese lady, who is in her 40s, arrived on the 19th as a tourist and fell ill on the 25th and was confirmed as having the coronavirus following a test on Monday.”
Meanwhile, Chinese capital Beijing saw its first death from the Wuhan virus also on Monday (Jan 27). According to the Beijing Municipal Health Commission, the patient was a 50-year-old man who traveled to Wuhan on January 8, and retuned to Beijing on January 15. He developed a fever and tested positive for the Wuhan virus on January 22, succumbing to respiratory failure on January 27. -/TISG
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