SARS: No New Probable Cases (28 May 2003)

28 May 2003

Situation Update

There were no new probable SARS cases, discharges or deaths reported today. There were no new suspect or observation cases admitted to TTSH.

The total number of patients who have recovered from SARS stands at 165. 9 patients remained hospitalised, including 5 who are in intensive care.

Updates on Foreign Media Stories of Possible SARS Cases Connected with Singapore

The Star and New Straits Times (5 May)

The Star and New Straits Times reported on 5 May 2003 that a 35-year-old lorry driver from Negri Sembilan, who had delivered scrap metal to Singapore, was a suspect SARS case.

After making his delivery on 28 April 2003, he returned to Malaysia the same evening, developed fever as well as cough on 1 May 2003 and was admitted into Seremban Hospital.

We are glad that the man?s chest X-ray was normal and that he has been discharged from hospital. Based on our investigations, he did not have contact with any SARS patient in Singapore.

The Star and New Straits Times (6 May)

On 6 May, the Star and New Straits Times carried reports that a 22-year-old Malaysian woman, working as a cashier in the Ang Mo Kio Light Rapid Transit (LRT) station in Singapore, developed a fever, cough and breathing difficulties when she returned to Malaysia on 1 May 2003.

She was reported to have informed the Malaysian Health Ministry that she had been in contact with a Singaporean friend who had SARS and had died on 24 April 2003. Our investigations revealed that no such person visited Singapore recently. There is also no record of such an employee. There is also no LRT station in Ang Mo Kio.

The same reports also referred to an 85-year-old Singaporean man who visited Malaysia on 27 April, fell ill on 1 May 2003 and was admitted into KL Hospital. He was subsequently treated as a probable SARS patient.

Our investigations showed that the 85-year-old man departed from Singapore on 15 April 2003. The time gap between this date and 1 May 2003 exceeds the 10-day SARS incubation period. He has since been diagnosed with chronic bronchitis and is on his way to recovery.

Quarantine Figures*

The quarantine figures are as follows:

#Discharged patients under home quarantine = 376

Contacts under home quarantine = 53

Total under home quarantine orders = 429

*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 SARS cases is as follows:

Discharged: 165

Hospitalised: 9 (including 5 in ICU)

Deaths: 31

Probable cases: 206*

Suspect cases: 0

Observation cases: 4

*Includes 1 case who died from non-SARS causes

Travel Advisory

MOH urges the public to heed WHO's advice to postpone travel to Beijing, Hebei, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Tianjin and Taiwan until another time.