The death toll for the Wuhan virus as of January 22 is now nine people. All nine deaths have been in China. The virus has spread to 13 provinces.

There are currently over 400 confirmed cases in China.

Here was the situation as of yesterday.

This weekend saw a clear uptick in reported cases in the Chinese state of Wuhan, with the biggest bombshell being the confirmation of human-to-human transmission.

A China Daily report cited Li Gang, director and chief physician of the Wuhan Center for Disease Control and Prevention, as saying that while the possibility of limited human-to-human transmission cannot be ruled out, the risk of “continuous human-to-human transmission” is low.

Zhong Nanshan, the scientist who helped expose the scale of the SARS outbreak, said it was affirmative that there is evidence of human-to-human transmission.

However, he did state that the pneumonia outbreak in Wuhan, China will not be as serious as the previous respiratory disease outbreak.

Cases have long since been confirmed in other parts of the world, but has now spread to the U.S. and Taiwan.

Both cases had recent travel history to Wuhan.

What is Singapore doing?

The Ministry of Health (MOH) has put in place additional precautionary measures in response to the increase in cases and the widened distribution of the novel coronavirus pneumonia in China.

The definition of suspect cases has been widened to include persons with pneumonia and travel history to China within 14 days before the onset of symptoms.

This includes those with acute respiratory infection and who have been to any hospital in China, within 14 days before onset of symptoms.

These cases will be isolated in the hospital as a precautionary measure to prevent transmission.

From January 22, 2020, temperature screening at Changi Airport will also be expanded to all inbound travellers on flights arriving from China, and suspect cases meeting the expanded definitions will be referred to hospitals for further assessment.

Health Advisory Notices will be issued to all travellers arriving at Changi Airport from China, and health advisory posters will also be distributed at land and sea checkpoints.

MOH has also reminded doctors and healthcare workers to be vigilant, and maintain strict infection control and prevention measures.

There have been no confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus reported in Singapore as of this article.

However, MOH expects to see more suspect cases, and possibly imported cases in the near future.

Here's a recap of what is going on: 

Image from Reuters