2 new Covid-19 cases in Singapore, one linked to Wizlearn Technologies; no new patients discharged

SINGAPORE - Two more cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in Singapore on Tuesday (March 3), bringing the number of people who have tested positive in the country to 110.

One of these, Case 110, has links to the cluster at Wizlearn Technologies, while contact tracing is underway to determine links for the other case.

No new patients were discharged, meaning the number of those fully recovered remains at 78, said the Ministry of Health (MOH).

MOH said on Tuesday that of the 32 confirmed cases still in hospital, most are stable, while seven are in critical condition in the intensive care unit, one more than on Monday.

Case 109 is a 70-year-old male Singapore citizen who has no recent travel history to affected countries and regions.

He is currently warded in an isolation room at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH).

He reported onset of symptoms on Feb 25 and had sought treatment at a general practitioner (GP) clinic on Feb 27 and 28.

He went to SGH on Feb 29 and was immediately isolated. Subsequent test results confirmed infection on Monday afternoon.

Prior to hospital admission, he had gone to work at Fish Mart Sakuraya at 154 West Coast Road but had not served customers or handled food. He lives in Everton Park.

Case 110 is a 33-year-old male Singapore Citizen who has no recent travel history to affected countries and regions. He is currently warded in an isolation room at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.

To date, 336 people are being quarantined and 2,837 people have completed their quarantine.

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The clusters that have emerged here are Wizlearn Technologies, the Yong Thai Hang health products shop, the Grand Hyatt Singapore, a Seletar Aerospace Heights construction site, and the clusters at Grace Assembly of God and the Life Church and Missions Singapore that are now considered one cluster as a result of the earlier discovery of a missing link between the two.

Earlier on Tuesday, Singapore's multi-ministry task force announced that recent travellers from South Korea, northern Italy and Iran, which have seen a spike in recent cases of the virus, would not be allowed to enter or transit through Singapore.

As of noon on Tuesday, 90,689 cases of Covid-19 have been reported globally, with 10,538 of them outside China where the virus emerged.

South Korea has 4,812 cases, Italy has 1,835, mostly in the northern region, while Iran has 1,501 and Japan had 268.

Singapore's Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong, who co-chairs the task force, said: "Despite our very best efforts, we have to be mentally prepared for the number of infected cases in Singapore to go up. I think the experience so far these past few days in Singapore where the number of cases rises by just a handful everyday, we've become accustomed to it.

"But this may not be the norm and it can change very easily. You see this in other countries too, where you have very few cases for a few days and then suddenly, one incident occurs, one event occurs, and there is a sharp spike in cases and sustained transmission. This has happened elsewhere; it can happen in Singapore too."

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.

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