The Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed two new cases of the Wuhan novel coronavirus in Singapore on Feb. 1, making them the 17th and 18th confirmed cases.

Both cases have recent travel history to Wuhan and there is currently no evidence of community spread in Singapore.

17th case

MOH reports that the 17th case is a 47-year-old female Singaporean who travelled to Wuhan.

She was one of the Singaporeans evacuated from Wuhan on Jan. 30, and arrived in Singapore via Scoot on the same day.

She was asymptomatic when she boarded the flight.

Upon arrival at Changi Airport, she was found to have a fever during medical screening, and was conveyed to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID).

She was tested positive for the virus infection on Jan. 31 at about 11pm.

She is currently warded in an isolation room at NCID.

18th case

The 18th case is a 31-year-old female Chinese national who arrived in Singapore from Wuhan on Jan. 22.

She was tested positive on Feb. 1 at about 2pm and is currently warded in an isolation room at NCID.

No further details have been released yet.

Updates on 16th case

MOH also updated on the 16th case which was reported yesterday.

The 38-year-old Chinese national is now warded in an isolation room at the Singapore General Hospital (SGH).

The patient reported that he was asymptomatic during his flight to Singapore.

He subsequently developed symptoms on Jan. 23 and reported that he had stayed at his home at Nathan Road until Jan. 29, when he took a taxi to SGH.

He was classified as a suspect case and immediately isolated. Subsequent test results confirmed the infection on Jan. 31 at about 2pm.

Suspected cases and contact tracing updates

As of February 1, 12pm, 231 of the suspect cases have tested negative for the coronavirus, and 18 have tested positive (the 18th case was confirmed at about 2pm today). Test results for the remaining 25 cases are pending.

Contact tracing for the confirmed cases is ongoing and once identified, MOH will closely monitor all close contacts.

As a precautionary measure, they will be quarantined for 14 days from their last exposure to the patient.

In addition, all other identified contacts who have a low risk of being infected will be under active surveillance, and will be contacted daily to monitor their health status.

As of Feb. 1, 12pm, MOH has identified 245 close contacts. Of the 177 who are still in Singapore, 172 have been contacted and are being quarantined or isolated.

Efforts are ongoing to contact the remaining five close contacts.

Top photo via Julia Yeo