Coronavirus: No widespread community infection yet but situation being monitored

Although three Singapore residents and a foreign domestic worker here with no travel history to China have been infected by the coronavirus, it does not constitute widespread community transmission.

Health Minister Gan Kim Yong explained at a press conference yesterday that this is because the source of infection for all four people is known.

Three were infected through interaction on Jan 23 with a tour group from China - two members of whom are now known to have the coronavirus after returning home - and the fourth person, the foreign domestic worker, through close contact with her employer, who is one of the three.

Two of the three women worked at Yong Thai Hang at 24 Cavan Road, a shop that sells health products, and the third is the tour guide who took the group there.

So although it is community transmission, it is a limited transmission, Mr Gan said.

"For this particular cluster, we are able to identify all the contacts that are involved, including the source of the infection."

He added: "If you have a cluster and you know who the first patient in that cluster is, but have no idea where he got the infection from, then we have a bigger problem."

For this first local cluster, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has started contact tracing in order to ring-fence the cases so that the coronavirus does not spread to more people.

"These efforts will help reduce the risk of escalation," said Mr Gan.

He said the Government has been expecting cases with limited community transmission like this one, and it is "a scenario we are prepared for".

He said measures will be ramped up "when you have cases popping up in different parts of Singapore and we are not able to determine the source, have no idea where they come from".

Referring to his ministerial statement in Parliament on Monday, he said: "As I pointed out yesterday, despite our best efforts, Singapore could still see extensive community spread. At that point, we will need to consider measures to reduce human-to-human interactions, such as cancelling mass gatherings, suspending (classes in) schools, paring down non-essential care services and introducing further infection control and monitoring measures, to slow the spread."

This happened during the severe acute respiratory syndrome outbreak here in 2003.

"We're watching the situation very carefully, monitoring developments, and we're quite prepared to adjust our posture, our stance," Mr Gan said.

As to how the two women in the store could have caught the virus from customers who were only there to buy things, Mr Gan said there could be different modes of transmission - not just close contact that has been defined as within 2m for at least 30 minutes.

"For example, a person who is ill might have been in contact with some of the merchandise. The merchandise could have been contaminated. The salesperson could have handled the material after that, and she touches her face, her eyes and nose, she could have gotten it. So it's not necessarily through talking or sneezing."

MOH is still tracing where else the group had gone to and the hotel they stayed in, since the first of the four virus cases was confirmed only at 11pm on Monday.

The other three cases were confirmed yesterday.

Said Mr Gan: "We continue to be vigilant for more cases. There may be more with exposure to this particular travel group."