SINGAPORE has confirmed two more cases of Influenza A (H1N1-2009), bringing the number of infected persons to 14.
The 13th patient is a 23-year-old Singapor
ean man who went to Melbourne on May 27 and developed symptoms in the early hours of Wednesday while he was still there, said a Ministry of Health statement on Friday night.
He returned here on Singapore Airlines SQ238 (Row 40) on Thursday at 16.11 pm.
His fever was detected by the thermal scanner at Changi Airport and he was sent to Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) via a 993 ambulance. He was admitted to the Communicable Diseases Centre (CDC) for further assessment that night, and laboratory results confirmed his infection on Friday afternoon.
The 14th patient is a 22-year-old Singaporean woman who is a cabin crew with Singapore Airlines and went to New York on May 24.
She was on the same flight (SQ25) from New York to Frankfurt as three of the earlier confirmed cases; the 7th confirmed case involving a 30-year-old Australian male tourist who was seated at row 54; the 10th confirmed case who is a 33-year-old Singaporean woman who was seated at row 19; and the 11th confirmed case, an 18-year-old American female visitor who was seated at row 57.
While these three earlier confirmed cases arrived in Singapore on June, the SIA crew member had stopped over at Frankfurt and returned to Singapore one day later on Tuesday morning.
On arrival, she went home by taxi from the airport. She developed symptoms on Wednesday afternoon.
The next day, she saw a GP in the evening, and was referred to TTSH via a 993 ambulance and admitted to CDC for further assessment that night. Laboratory results confirmed her infection on Friday afternoon.
Both patients have relatively mild symptoms and are in stable condition. Contact tracing has been initiated for the two latest cases.
MOH advised passengers who were seated on rows 38 to 42 on Thursday’s SQ238 to call the MOH hotline at 1800-333 9999 if they have not been contacted yet. All close contacts identified will be quarantined and provided with antiviral drugs.
Given that six confirmed cases were related to SQ25 June 1, MOH said passengers on board SQ25 that day – from New York to Singapore via Frankfurt – should monitor their health closely till Monday.
They are advised to go to CDC immediately for an assessment using the 993 ambulance if they become unwell.
Meanwhile, contact tracing for close contacts of the 12th case involving the 18-year-old Singaporean man, who returned from Melbourne on Emirates EK405 (row 18) on Monday, have been accounted for.
MOH has tracked down 43 close contacts comprising 40 flight passengers and three local contacts.
The local contacts will be placed under home quarantine. MOH also issued 21 HQOs to 24 flight passengers who are in Singapore.
The details of the three remaining passengers who are uncontactable have been given to Immigration and Checkpoints Authority. The remaining 16 flight passengers have left Singapore.
MOH added that Malaysian health authorities have also informed Singapore of two confirmed cases arising from SQ25 on Monday.
Both were foreign passengers who arrived in Singapore on Monday and left for Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.
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