The first 87 of 92 Singaporeans evacuated from Wuhan on a specially arranged Scoot flight on Jan 30 returned to their own homes on Thursday after completing a 14-day quarantine.

Of the remaining five who were found to be infected with the new coronavirus, two have fully recovered and been discharged from hospital, the Ministry of Health said yesterday.

Budget carrier Scoot said that the crew who volunteered for the flight have also completed a 14-day leave of absence and are back at work.

Scoot suspended flights to Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, on Jan 23.

From Feb 8, all other flights to China were suspended. Services are expected to resume around the end of next month.

The Jan 30 flight from Wuhan was the first of two specially arranged flights to evacuate Singaporeans there.

A second flight on Feb 9 brought 174 Singaporeans and their family members home.

Business development manager David Cher, 40, who was on the first Scoot flight back, told The Straits Times that he and other Scoot passengers on the flight left their quarantine centre at the Civil Service Club @ Changi II resort at about 12pm on Thursday.

"Some officials came to our rooms and let us sign a few documents, and gave us a blue paper with our name on it," said Mr Cher.

"After we received the paper, we walked out to the gate and showed the guards the paper, and we all left by ourselves from there."

His Chinese national wife and two children - a two-year-old son and eight-month-old daughter - are still serving out their quarantine, having returned only on the second Scoot flight from Wuhan on Feb 9.

Mr Cher said: "I want to return to work. It has been too boring already after not working for a month."