Coronavirus: Singapore raises outbreak alert level after signs of community spread
- New cases in three people – including a high school teacher – who had not visited China and are not linked to previous infections
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The new cases signal that there is now community spread of the disease, something National Development Minister Lawrence Wong called an “eventuality”.
The previously diagnosed 29 cases were of people who had either visited mainland China, including Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, or who had come into contact with travellers from China – including a group of people who worked at a shop catering to Chinese tourists, and their family members.
The first case with no link either to mainland China or to previous cases in Singapore emerged on Thursday in a 41-year-old man who developed a fever on January 28 and was admitted to hospital on February 3. Three more cases followed on Friday. Speaking on Friday, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said investigations into the first case had “not been able to establish a link to previous cases or any travel history to mainland China”.
He said Singapore had been preparing for this scenario and was “ready to manage the situation”.
“There are now cases that we are unable to determine the source of infection, they are not linked to any existing cases nor linked to travel history to China. And therefore we suspect the sources of the infection are in the community.”