HEALTH Minister Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad has confirmed three people have contracted the coronavirus originating from Wuhan, China.

He said the victims are three Chinese nationals from Wuhan, who entered the country through Johor Baru, and are currently being treated at Sungai Buloh Hospital, where they are in a stable condition.

“They were reported to have boarded a flight from Guangzhou to Singapore on January 20. Early screenings did not return any sign of fever and they did not have any symptoms of infection.

“Subsequent clinical samples were taken among these contacts for detection tests and further 2019-nCoV tests at the National Public Health Laboratory in Sungai Buloh, and the cases were confirmed last night,” he said.

Wuhan is situated in Hubei, the epicentre of the outbreak of 2019-nCoV, or 2019 Novel Coronavirus, which has claimed at least 41 lives and spread to other countries, including Singapore, Japan, the US, France and Australia.

The virus has infected at least 1,300 people in China alone and Wuhan has been quarantined by Beijing in a bid to limit the spread of the virus.

Health experts said some human-to-human transmission has been recorded, while Dr Dzulkefly said the three people in Sungai Buloh Hospital are close relatives of a 66-year old Chinese national in Singapore confirmed to have contracted the virus.

The three are his 65-year-old wife and their grandsons, aged 11 and 2.

The patient in Singapore is the republic’s first confirmed case. He tested positive for the virus along with his son, who was his travel companion.

Dr Dzulkefly said a total of nine people travelled with the man to Singapore from Guangzhou.

The group comprised his wife, son, daughter-in-law and two grandchildren, as well as a couple and their two kids, who are friends of the family.

“The ministry was informed by the Singaporean Health Ministry of the case and was given information on the victims’ closest contact, who was in Malaysia,” he said, lauding Singapore’s move to contact Malaysian authorities in a “discreet and tactful” way.

“With that, we were able to be prepared and take preventive measures.”

This led to the Johor Health Department swiftly tracking down and screening the eight who entered the state.

Initial checks showed them to be asymptomatic, but further tests conducted at the Sungai Buloh lab came back positive for three patients.

The mother of the two kids who tested positive for the coronavirus is in Malaysia to attend to them. The four people who tested negative have left for China. – January 25, 2020.