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01 May 2003
Situation Update
Today, 2 more patients have been discharged, bringing the total number of patients who have recovered from SARS to 143. 33 patients remained hospitalised, of whom 15 are in intensive care. There were no new probable cases today.
Situation Update on the three flights
Passenger One and Two who arrived in Singapore on 27 April 03 on flights SQ859 and MU545 are still classified as suspects and are in stable condition. They were picked up by thermal scanning at the airport on arrival in Singapore. As a precautionary measure since they were detected to have fever when they arrived in Singapore, HQOs are being issued to the passengers on these flights.
Passenger Three, the Singaporean male who had travelled to Jakarta on 18 April 03, returned to Singapore on 22 April 03 on GA 828. His mother was earlier admitted to TTSH on 19 Apr 03 and diagnosed as a probable SARS case on 22 Apr 03. That night, he had a fever. He was admitted to TTSH and was diagnosed to have probable SARS on 26 Apr. His condition is stable. Although he said that he did not have fever while on board, as an added precautionary measure, HQOs are being issued to the passengers on the flight.
In all, 267 passengers, including crew members, were on board the three flights reported yesterday (MU 545, SQ859 and GA 828.) As a precautionary measure, 160 passengers who have local addresses have been issued HQOs. This excludes 33 foreign crew members, about whom we have alerted the Airlines.
The remaining 74 are foreign nationals (non-residents). 59 of them have left Singapore. We have informed the countries of their next destinations. Out of the 15 persons remaining in Singapore, we have served HQO on 10 of them. These passengers are well and would be leaving Singapore as soon as they can arrange their flights home. We will continue with our efforts to contact the 5 remaining passengers.
Situation Update of Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre (PPWC)
No new suspect cases were admitted today. 4 visitors were discharged today. There are 4 persons who are currently admitted as suspects, comprising 3 visitors to the market and 1 family contact.
New Suspect Patients
There were 23 patients who were admitted as new suspect cases today. Of these, 4 had travelled overseas, 3 were inpatients who had been transferred by other hospitals, 8 were family and social contacts of suspect cases, 4 had no contact history at point of admission. There are 4 healthcare workers who were picked up to have high or prolonged fever by their hospitals' staff temperature monitoring system, and admitted to TTSH as suspect cases.
Enhanced facilities at polyclinics
At present all polyclinics have in place proper infection control measures to ensure the safety of patients and visitors to the polyclinics. All patients and visitors have their temperature taken and are required to complete a health declaration before entering the polyclinics. Those found to have a fever are required to wear a mask and are treated separately from those who do not have a fever.
From 2 May 03, 4 polyclinics namely Choa Chu Kang Polyclinic, Yishun Polyclinic, Geylang Polyclinic and Tampines Polyclinic will extend and upgrade the existing services for patients with fever.
As per current practice, all patients and visitors to the polyclinics will have their temperature taken and be required to fill in a health declaration. Non-febrile patients will proceed into the polyclinic for other polyclinic services, such as immunisation, developmental assessment and women's health screening services.
Febrile patients will be seen at tents set up outside the polyclinic premises, specially fitted to provide screening and medical treatment for patients with fever. They will be well ventilated and spacious, and have high standards of infection control. All patients will be given a surgical mask. These tents will come fully equipped with laboratory and X-ray facilities and pharmacies to treat febrile conditions. There will be separate isolation areas for those who may be suspected to have SARS and designated transport on standby to send them direct to TTSH.
With these enhancements, Singaporeans can be confident about infection control measures at the polyclinics. Those who have fever and need to go to the polyclinic to see a doctor can be assured that they will be properly managed and there is very little risk of cross-infection from other patients or healthcare workers.
More resources are needed to implement these additional infection control measures. The 2 public sector clusters are looking into augmenting their own resources with private sector GPs. As these become available, similar enhancements will be made in other polyclinics.
Quarantine Figures*
Discharged patients under home quarantine: 344
PPWC Quarantine: 1985
Contacts under home quarantine: 749
Total under home quarantine orders: 3078
*Quarantine cases refer to those who are required to stay at home for precautionary reasons as they may have had contact with a SARS patient. These are healthy individuals.
#This is an added precautionary measure for discharged SARS patients as well as those with co-morbidities.
Summary of SARS cases
A summary of the SARS cases to date:
Discharged: 143
Hospitalised: 33 (including 15 in intensive care)
Deaths: 24 + 1 (pending further post mortem test results)
Total No. of Probable Cases: 201
Total No. of Suspect Cases: 83 (including 9 children below 18)
Travel advisory
MOH urges the public to heed World Health Organisation (WHO)'s advice to postpone travel to Hong Kong, Guangdong, Beijing, Shanxi until another time.
Public Education Message for the Day
Keep your environment clean
Do not throw left-over of food on the floor or in the open.
Do not leave food in common areas for stray animals.
Do not spit on the floor and common areas.
Throw tissue of litter into rubbish bins.