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Coronavirus cases in South Korea and Malaysia linked to Singapore meeting spark WHO investigation
- A Malaysian and South Korean were infected after going to a conference in Singapore, which included guests from China and Wuhan
- The source of their infections has not been identified
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Coronavirus cases in South Korea and Malaysia tied to a business meeting in Singapore attended by visitors from China, including Wuhan, have prompted an investigation into the infection’s international spread.
At least three employees of the multinational company, including a 41-year-old man in Malaysia and a 38-year-old man in South Korea, were infected with the so-called 2019-nCoV virus after attending a meeting at a Singapore hotel in the third week of January, health authorities said.
Singapore late on Wednesday said four other attendees were showing symptoms.
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The World Health Organisation (WHO) is coordinating with Singapore’s Ministry of Health in relation to the event, said Olivia Lawe Davies, the agency’s Manila-based regional communications manager.
“Based on current information, there is no evidence of effective and sustained community transmission,” Lawe Davies said in an email on Wednesday. “As countries are stepping up surveillance, the detection of more cases of local transmission can be expected.”
Health authorities are looking for so-called super-spreader events reminiscent of the Sars outbreak 17 years ago, when an infected doctor from Guangdong transmitted the virus in a Hong Kong hotel to numerous guests, who then carried the germ to cities including Toronto, Hanoi and Singapore.
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