Singapore May Be Designated as Contaminated Area
With the number of Wuhan coronavirus infectees having reached 28 in South Korea, the South Korean government strengthened quarantine procedures applied to every person arriving from Hong Kong and Macau. In addition, the government is considering designating Singapore as a contaminated area. Singapore is home to 43 coronavirus patients and the number is second only to that of China.
The government announced on Feb. 11 that it designated Hong Kong and Macau as contaminated areas at midnight Feb. 12 and every person arriving from the two regions must use a dedicated arrival hall, undergo an individual body temperature check, and submit a health status report. In addition, entry is prohibited unless contact information is confirmed.
The 28th case in South Korea, a 30-year-old Chinese female, resulted from contact with the third patient in the country, a 55-year-old South Korean male. She arrived in the same plane as him, and they spent a lot of time together, visiting a plastic surgery clinic and so on, until Jan. 25. His infection was confirmed on Jan. 26 and her infection was confirmed on Feb. 10. In other words, her infection was confirmed in 17 days from their last contact.
Her medical inspection was conducted on Feb. 8, when her incubation period and home isolation ended. She tested very weakly positive and two more tests were carried out before hospitalization on Feb. 10. The government mentioned two possibilities with regard to her lack of symptoms. One is asymptomatic infection in the relatively young person and the other is a failure of recognition of symptoms attributable to an anti-inflammatory painkiller taken after her medical treatment at the clinic.