Update On The New Probable SARS Case - 11 September 2003

11 Sep 2003

The 27-year old patient, warded in CDC2, is doing well and has no fever. His family members are well, and so are all his direct contacts who are on Home Quarantine Orders. So far, no additional HQOs have been issued, apart from the 25 HQOs issued earlier.

Following the World Health Organisation's (WHO) advice for an independent assessment, we have sent samples from the patient for further testing at the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Atlanta.

A full investigation will be carried out to establish the source of infection. As part of this exercise, the Ministry has sought the help of biosafety experts from the WHO and CDC Atlanta, to audit the two laboratories, namely, the Environmental Health Institute and the Microbiology Laboratory of NUS, where the patient worked. The WHO and CDC Atlanta have agreed to send two experts each to assist in the investigations, which will commence when they arrive in Singapore next week. They will review biosafety measures at the two laboratories, including practices, facilities and equipment, and establish whether the laboratories could have been the source of infection for the new probable case .

MOH has assessed that there is no cause for alarm as the case is a single and isolated case and of low public health risk. The WHO agrees with our assessment. According to a WHO statement issued yesterday, "the Singapore case is mild, isolated and has not produced secondary cases, and therefore is not regarded as a public health concern". It also said that "Singapore continues to be a safe destination for travellers, and travellers from Singapore pose no risk to other countries". WHO has also mentioned that it will not be issuing any travel advisory. The full statement is available here.