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SINGAPORE: The Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed another three Influenza A (H1N1) cases on Wednesday, bringing the total number of people infected in Singapore to 11.
The 9th patient is a 19-year-old Singaporean student returning from the US for the summer holidays. She arrived from New York via Tokyo on All Nippon Airways NH901 at 23:40 hours on May 28.
MOH said no one else needed to be quarantined as the case developed more than 24 hours after disembarkation, hence she was assessed to be non-infectious during the flight.
The 10th and 11th patients were on the same flight as the 7th confirmed case, a 30-year-old Australian male tourist who was seated at row 54 on Singapore Airlines SQ25, which arrived in Singapore from New York via Frankfurt at 06:18 hours on June 1.
The 10th patient is a 33-year-old Singaporean woman who took a taxi to Tan Tock Seng Hospital after developing symptoms. She was in New York from May 23-30 and was seated at row 19 on SQ25. She was admitted to the Communicable Disease Centre 2 (CDC2) at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) before midnight on June 2.
The 11th patient is an 18-year-old American woman. She was seated at row 57 on SQ25. She developed symptoms in the afternoon of June 2, took a taxi with her relative to seek medical attention at Raffles Hospital's Emergency Department in the evening and was sent to CDC, TTSH via a 993 ambulance. She was admitted to CDC2 in the early hours of June 3.
Contact tracing has been initiated for the 10th and 11th confirmed cases. Passengers seated within rows 17 to 21 and 57 to 59 on SQ25 on June 1 who have not been contacted by MOH yet should call the MOH hotline at 1800-333-9999.
The ministry is expanding the list of "affected areas" to include Melbourne and the State of Victoria in Australia, Kobe and Osaka in Japan, and Chile, besides USA, Canada and Mexico.
Affected areas are those with clear evidence of widespread community transmission. The number of cases in the State of Victoria, particularly in its capital, Melbourne, has been rising rapidly, with the number of cases doubling to reach almost 400 over the last two days.
For Japan, more than 90 per cent of its cases are found in the two cities of Kobe and Osaka.
For Chile, the government has announced that H1N1 is entrenched in the community and mitigation measures have replaced containment efforts. Indications are that there is widespread infection throughout Chile, although a large majority of cases are found in the capital city, Santiago.
MOH advises the public to avoid non-essential travel to these affected areas.
So far, all the 11 cases in Singapore are imported and have a travel history. There is currently no evidence of community spread.
- CNA/ir
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