Press Releases
Update (VI) On SARS Cases In Singapore
19 March 2003
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19 Mar 2003
As at 19 March 03, a total of 31 people with SARS have been reported. All are in hospital, except for 2 patients who have since recovered and been discharged. These two patients were the initial cohort who had travelled to Hong Kong. All the patients are stable except for 4 patients who are in serious condition.
The 8 additional patients reported today comprise 3 family members and friends of patients, and 5 hospital staff who had attended to the patients. Apart from the 3 initial people who had travelled to Hong Kong, a total of 15 family and friends of cases, and 13 hospital staff have been diagnosed with SARS. So far, all the cases of SARS have been linked to the initial 3 cases. No new index cases have been reported. In addition, no further cases have occurred among health care workers after the implementation of enhanced infection control precautions
Preliminary investigations by the Pathology Department at the Singapore General Hospital and the Defence Medical Research Institute have identified the likely infective agent to belong to the paramyxovirus family. This corroborates early investigation results by overseas centres in Germany and Hong Kong.
The Ministry of Health would like to appeal to the public to avoid travel to Hong Kong, Hanoi and Guangdong province in China for the time being, unless absolutely necessary. This would help us greatly in our efforts to contain the number of new cases.
We also advise you to stay calm and continue with your daily routine. Though SARS is infectious, there is no need for alarm as your risk to SARS is low. WHO has reported that the disease is spread from person to person but only through close contact with an infected person. There is no evidence to date that the disease spreads through casual contact.
The Ministry would like to reiterate that you should seek immediate medical attention if you have:
- Fever (more than 38 degree celsius) and respiratory symptoms including cough, shortness of breath or breathing difficulty;
AND
- have travelled to Hong Kong, Hanoi or Guangdong province in China, within 2 weeks of onset of the symptoms; or
- are a close contact of persons diagnosed with SARS. (Close contact means having cared for, having lived with, or having had direct contact with respiratory secretions and body fluids of a person with SARS)
Related links:
Factsheets:
(a) Measures Taken To Control the Outbreak in Singapore