SINGAPORE: Singapore reported one new confirmed COVID-19 case on Thursday (Feb 20), bringing the number of cases in the country to 85, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) in a daily update.

Three more patients were discharged from hospital on Thursday, meaning 37 have now fully recovered from the virus.



Forty-eight patients remain in hospital, with four in critical condition.

The latest confirmed case is a 36-year-old male work pass holder from China.

He has no recent travel history to China and is currently warded at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID).

Contact tracing is under way to establish any links to previous cases or travel history to China.



Among those discharged on Thursday is Case 66, a 28-year-old Singaporean man who works at Grace Assembly of God church, one of the five known clusters in Singapore.

The other two discharged are Case 6, a 56-year-old man from Wuhan and Case 16, a 38-year-old man from Wuhan. They are not related and not linked to any clusters.

As of noon on Feb 20, MOH has identified 2,616 close contacts who have been quarantined. Of these, 1,147 are currently quarantined, and 1,469 have completed their quarantine.

UPDATES ON PREVIOUS PATIENTS

MOH also released more information on Thursday on two cases confirmed on Wednesday.

Case 83 is a 54-year-old Singaporean man with no recent travel history to China, but who travels frequently to Malaysia for work purposes.

He reported symptoms on Jan 28 and sought treatment at a GP clinic four times: Feb 1, 5, 6 and 10 before going to NCID on Feb 18.

He was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on the morning of Feb 19 and is currently warded in an isolation room at NCID.

Prior to hospital admission, he had gone to work at Philemon Singapore, which is at 16 Kallang Place. He lives at Rivervale Drive.

Case 84 is a 35-year-old Singaporean woman with no recent travel history to China.

She was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on the morning of Feb 19 and is currently warded in an isolation room at NCID.

She is linked to Case 66, a 28-year-old Singaporean man who is linked to the cluster at Grace Assembly of God.

She reported onset of symptoms on Feb 4 and sought treatment at a GP clinic on Feb 4 and 5. As she had been identified as a contact of Case 66, she was referred to NCID on Feb 18.

Prior to hospital admission, she had gone to work at Lonza Biologics - located at 35 Tuas South Avenue 6 - and visited had Bugis Junction. She lives in the Aljunied Road area.

DEATH TOLL RISES

Originating in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, COVID-19 has killed more than 2,100 people and infected nearly 75,000, mostly in mainland China.

It has spread to more than 25 countries, including Singapore, Japan and Thailand.

Outside mainland China, 11 people have died from the disease. Iran reported two deaths on Wednesday, the first fatalities in the Middle East. South Korea reported one death on Thursday, and two elderly former passengers from the Diamond Princess died Thursday.

Foreign ministers of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China held an emergency meeting on the coronavirus outbreak on Thursday.

Speaking in Laos after talks, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China's efforts to control the outbreak "are working" and that the disease is "controllable and curable" despite the global panic it has seeded.

On Wednesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) said it was "very impressed" with Singapore's response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Singapore on Feb 7 raised the Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (DORSCON) to Orange, prompting additional precautionary measures.

The country has also set aside S$800 million in Budget 2020 to support frontline agencies in their efforts to contain the COVID-19 outbreak, with the bulk allocated to the Ministry of Health.

The newly announced measures to help firms, workers and households are appropriate for now but the Government is prepared to do more if the situation warrants it, said Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat.

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