SINGAPORE - Eighteen Singapore residents and 10 staff members of Singapore Airlines' budget arm Scoot arrived back home safely from Hangzhou on a relief flight in the early hours of Monday (Jan 27), a Transport Ministry (MOT) spokesman said in a press release.

Scoot's relief flight TR5001 departed Singapore shortly before noon on Sunday (Jan 26) and flew back from Hangzhou as TR1189 at 8.28pm Hangzhou time, according to a spokesman from Scoot.

The passengers were part of a group who had boarded Scoot flight TR188 to Hangzhou last Friday (Jan 24).

All 314 passengers on the flight were then isolated at Hangzhou International Airport due to the detection of two passengers who had fever and were subsequently confirmed as cases of novel coronavirus infection by Chinese authorities.

All passengers and crew members were declared afebrile or not feverish after undergoing stringent medical checks upon arrival at Changi Airport.

MOT added that the health status of the group is being closely monitored.

As a precautionary measure, 15 people assessed to be close contacts of the two confirmed cases have been issued quarantine orders, while the rest have been put on active phone surveillance.

Those who develop symptoms will be brought to hospital in a dedicated ambulance for further assessment, MOT said.

Scoot said earlier that due to the temporary suspension of all public transport networks in China's Hubei province, the carrier had cancelled all flights between Singapore and Wuhan, the capital of Hubei, from Jan 23 to Feb 2.

Those who had booked these cancelled flights were given the option to re-route their flight to other destinations within China, Macau or Hong Kong, or get a full refund.