Dr Chi Wei Ming is one of the three general practitioners at the Sims Drive Medical Clinic who raised the alarm leading to the discovery that Zika had arrived and is spreading in Singapore.

He and two other colleagues pieced together the puzzle after the spike in patient numbers with the same symptoms -- fever, rashes and joint pain -- tested negative for dengue, chikungunya, measles and rubella.

They then reached out to the Ministry of Health on Aug. 22 for help as they could not explain why identical symptoms were appearing in multiple patients.

The next day, MOH officials showed up at the clinic and offered free consultations at the Communicable Disease Centre (CDC).

One who did the test at the CDC was a Malaysian woman, 47, who became the first to be identified as having locally transmitted Zika. That was on Saturday, Aug. 27.

Dr Chi has since written a post on Facebook on Aug. 31, on what people in Singapore can do to pull through this crisis together:

Some basic advice he gave include:

- Not going to the Communicable Disease Centre directly for Zika screening as this would overwhelm the facilities there. See your own general practitioner first.

- Avoid Sims Drive, Aljunied Crescent, Kallang Way and Paya Lebar Way, unless you live or work there. And do not go to these areas to hunt for Pokemon.

- If you exhibit symptoms, please be bold and see a doctor for assessment.

This is his post in full:

Our battle against Zika: It’s a team effort involving everyone!

The Zika outbreak at the Sims Drive/Aljunied Crescent area the past week must have been unsettling for many. What seems like a remote possibility has now become a dreaded reality. But let us face up to the challenge squarely – Zika is here and has spread within the community. It was a team effort between my colleagues, MOH & CDC that enabled us to arrive at an accurate diagnosis. While we are glad to unravel the mystery that had baffled us for the past 2 weeks, it also means that the real battle has just begun.

In the next few weeks, the daily new Zika cases is critical not just in terms of the absolute numbers, but also in its demographic profile. It’ll tell us whether Zika is still contained to one localized area or whether it is spreading to neighbouring districts or other parts of Singapore. While we look with bated breath at the daily MOH figures, we should also resolve to double-up our efforts on 2 fronts – managing positive cases to prevent transmission and intensifying vector control.

Yesterday, while my colleagues and I were still combing through our clinic patients' records to identify possible Zika cases we'd missed earlier, there were many NEA officers working in pairs under the hot sun, inspecting every nook and corner to eradicate mosquito breeding. Their jobs were no less significant than ours. Similarly, we can all contribute and play a crucial role by keeping our environment clean to prevent mosquito breeding and practise social responsibility to halt community transmission.

Therefore, it is neither helpful nor productive to engage in finger-pointing or apportioning blame during this critical juncture. Through our interactions with the relevant authorities, we know that allegations of cover up are baseless and unmerited. All the relevant agencies have mobilised their personnel and resources to the best of their ability and provided information timely. It is also not possible to identify Patient Zero or trace the actual chain of transmission as the majority of infected persons (80%) have symptoms that are mild or may not exhibit any at all.

Here are a few suggestions.

1) Unless you live or work in Sims Drive, Aljunied Crescent, Kallang Way and Paya Lebar Way, avoid these areas. Please do not go to these areas to hunt for Pokemons! We need to do everything we can to contain the outbreak so that there will be no new clusters in other parts of Singapore.

2) Unless you are sick with symptoms of fever, joint pain, rash or sore eyes and living within the affected area, you should not go to the Communicable Disease Centre for Zika screening. Your trusted GPs are good and competent gatekeepers who can assess whether screening is necessary. This is to ensure that our colleagues at CDC are not overwhelmed with patients and relevant cases can be attended to quickly.

3) If you exhibit symptoms, please be bold and see a doctor for assessment. If infected, you are doing everyone a great service through prompt case recognition and management so that you will not further infect your loved ones and friends. Breaking the chain of transmission is the key to eradicating this outbreak. For most patients, Zika is self-limiting and rarely fatal.

Lets all do our part so that hopefully, Zika does not take root here and become endemic like dengue and thus difficult to eradicate. It’s a team effort and we can all play a part.

Related article:

First case of pregnant woman diagnosed with Zika in S’pore living in Aljunied Crescent, Sims Drive area

Top photo via

If you like what you read, follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get the latest updates.