Singapore Local Zika Cases Increase To 115

[niman]

Local Zika cases in Singapore jump to 115; first pregnant woman diagnosed

• Posted 31 Aug 2016 22:43
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• Updated 31 Aug 2016 23:07

Singapore's National Public Health Laboratory, which conducts Zika tests (Photo: MOH/Facebook)

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SINGAPORE: A total of 115 Zika infections has been confirmed in Singapore, including the first pregnant woman in the country to be diagnosed with the virus, the Ministry of Health (MOH) and National Environment Agency (NEA) said in a joint briefing on Wednesday evening (Aug 31).

The authorities also identified a new potential cluster at Bedok North Avenue 3, as well as confirmed 24 new cases, most of which are from the existing cluster.

Of the 24 new cases, authorities said 22 cases are from the Sims Drive / Aljunied Crescent cluster, which now also extends to Kallang Way and Paya Lebar Way.

Two of the new cases have no known links to the affected area. One patient lives at Joo Seng Road and the other lives at Punggol Way.

On the potential new cluster at Bedok North Avenue 3, MOH and NEA said that three cases were reported yesterday. The patients had symptoms showing within four days and therefore did not infect one another. One case in Bedok North has a link to Kallang Way, but the other two have no known links to the Sims Drive / Aljunied Crescent cluster. Authorities said this suggests a possible new cluster.

NEA said it would begin mosquito control operations at the potential new cluster at Bedok North Avenue 3.

The authorities also identified nine of the cases as a result of MOH's look-back testing of previous cases.

The pregnant Zika patient lives in the Aljunied Crescent / Sims Drive area and was diagnosed on Wednesday, authorities said, adding that she displayed mild symptoms of the virus and was taken to KK Women's and Children's Hospital. They added that she lives with a household member who was also diagnosed as positive for Zika.

Her doctor is following up closely with her to monitor her health as well as the development of the baby, authorities said. She will be referred to a maternal-foetal medicine specialist for counselling and advice.

Head of the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Professor Arijit Biswas said the general guidelines are for pregnant patients with Zika to go for checks every four weeks.

TESTING FOR ZIKA

On Wednesday morning, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong visited the National Public Health Laboratory where blood and urine samples of those suspected of having Zika are tested. Posting about the visit on Facebook, MOH said the samples are sent to the lab from various public healthcare institutions, such as the Communicable Disease Centre and hospitals, where patients are referred to from general practitioner (GP) clinics and polyclinics. The tests take about three hours to be completed before results are sent back to the healthcare institutions. In all, it takes about half a day for patients to receive their results.

Mr Gan thanked the lab workers who have been working into the night and over the weekend to ensure that patients get their test results as soon as possible, MOH said.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/local-zika-cases-in/3089076.html?cid=TWTCNA

[niman]

13 Indians among Zika-hit people in Singapore, foreign workers affected

• Raju Gopalakrishnan and Marius Zaharia (Reuters), Singapore
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• Updated: Sep 01, 2016 16:42 IST

Passengers arriving from Singapore walk near a banner about Zika virus at the Soekarno-Hatta airport in Jakarta, Indonesia. (Reuters)

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Indian foreign ministry confirmed on Thursday that 13 of its nationals had tested positive for the Zika virus in Singapore, after an outbreak of the mosquito-borne disease that at first affected three dozen workers on a construction site.

“According to our mission in Singapore 13 Indian nationals have tested positive for Zika in Singapore,” Vikas Swarup, spokesperson for the ministry of external affairs, said in response to a Reuters inquiry.

Foreign construction workers have been hit hardest in the first days of the mosquito-borne disease’s outbreak. Singapore announced the first locally contracted case of Zika late on Saturday.

Of the first 56 cases of Zika identified by late Monday, three dozen were foreign workers on a property development site where they worked and lived with more than 450 others.

Total Zika infections had increased to 115 by late Tuesday, but the Singapore government has not disclosed whether any of the more recent cases involved foreign workers.

The person at the Indian High Commission did not know if the Indian citizens affected were in the construction industry.

China’s foreign ministry said its Singapore embassy had been informed by the island state’s health ministry that 21 Chinese nationals in the country are confirmed to have been infected.

Many of the 360,000 or so foreign workers in Singapore’s building industry are from the Indian sub-continent, including India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. While many are paid as little as S$2 an hour ($1.47), work 12-14 hour days and rarely take days off, they can still potentially earn significantly more in Singapore than at home.

A man cycles past a construction site where locally transmitted Zika cases were first discovered in Singapore. (Reuters)

“Most susceptible”

Some dormitory rooms where workers live can house more than a dozen people and have no working fans, increasing their potential exposure to mosquitoes as windows are often left open, rights groups and some foreign workers told Reuters.

Government regulations already require employers and dormitory operators to take efforts to avoid mosquito breeding habitats as part of a long-standing battle with dengue, another mosquito-borne virus, but rights groups say they are concerned that these rules are not always followed.

Heena Kanwar, executive director of the Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics, says foreign workers are “the most susceptible group” for infections “because of their living conditions.”

Reuters was unable to gain access to workers at the construction site which was the focal point of the initial Zika infections. A spokesperson for Woh Hup, the main contractor at the site - which is under a “stop work” order - directed queries to the authorities “as the case is still under investigation”.

A spokeswoman for the site’s owner, Guocoland, said the company was unable to comment “beyond what has been released by the authorities.”

Only local media were invited to a site visit by the minister of state for manpower Teo Ser Luck on Tuesday, reporting that those diagnosed with the Zika virus were still living on site, but were separated from other workers, in rooms with internet access and delivered meals.

Debbie Fordyce, member of the executive committee of the group Transient Workers Count Too, noted that Singapore doesn’t release a nationality breakdown of foreign workers in its construction industry, so it’s not surprising it has not disclosed where workers with the Zika virus are from.

 

A worker fogs the drains in the common areas of a public housing estate at an area where locally transmitted Zika cases were discovered in Singapore. (Reuters)

“It could either be for the protection of the foreign workers, so that certain groups are not ostracised and identified as carriers of the virus, or to avoid drawing further attention to the poor living conditions,” she said.

Dormitory operators, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said government agencies carry out regular site inspections, and this week sprayed insecticide and looked for potential mosquito breeding habitats.

They say the government acts quickly if conditions are sub-standard, and operators are required to have at least one sick bay available or contingency plans for infectious diseases.

One dorm operator said it was hard to monitor the spread of infectious diseases, noting there were as many as 240 workers on just one level of his premises.

Manpower minister Teo told local media on Tuesday that action would be taken against operators who don’t take preventive measures “because this is a very serious issue.”

It’s still not known where the other foreign workers with Zika are from.

The high commission of Bangladesh and the Thai embassy said they did not have any workers among those who tested positive. A Sri Lankan foreign ministry official said it had not been informed of any infections, and the Chinese foreign ministry said in Beijing it had no information about any of its nationals in Singapore having Zika.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/13-indians-among-zika-infected-people-in-singapore-foreign-workers-hardest-hit/story-6Mzd2aGevzuQFPDaovv06L.html

[niman]

23 Chinese nationals in Singapore confirmed infected with Zika

Source: Agencies/Shanghai Daily | September 1, 2016, Thursday |  ONLINE EDITION

Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) on Thursday confirmed that foreigners account for 57 of 115 Zika cases in Singapore so far, including 23 from China's mainland and one from China's Taiwan.

THE Chinese Embassy in Singapore on Thursday said that 23 Chinese nationals in the city state are confirmed to have been infected with Zika virus.

Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) on Thursday confirmed that foreigners account for 57 of 115 Zika cases in Singapore so far, including 23 from China's mainland and one from China's Taiwan.

MOH added that all of the 57 foreigners who tested positive for Zika in Singapore had "mild illness" and most have recovered.

The Zika virus is on a rampage in Singapore, with 115 locally-transmitted cases -- including the first pregnant woman -- confirmed late Wednesday by the country's Ministry of Health (MOH), CNN reported. 

"Over time, we expect Zika cases to emerge from more areas," said Singaporean Minister for Health Gan Kim Yong, in a statement released Wednesday.

"The proportion of our population that are immune to the Zika virus is likely to be low in Singapore and if you don't have the immunity to provide the roadblocks, then it's likely that the virus will spread fast," Eng Eong Ooi, the deputy director of the Emerging Infectious Disease program at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore, reportedly told CNN.

http://www.shanghaidaily.com/nation/23-Chinese-nationals-in-Singapore-confirmed-infected-with-Zika/shdaily.shtml