By Charmaine A. Tadalan and Gillian M. Cortez
Reporters

ANOTHER Filipino has tested positive for the novel coronavirus strain in Singapore, bringing the number of infections involving Filipinos to two, according to its Ministry of Health (MoH).

The new case is a 41-year old Filipino woman with a work pass holder. She had no history of traveling to China, Daegu and Cheongdo in South Korea, the agency said.

“She was confirmed to have the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection on Feb. 29,” the ministry said on its website at the weekend.

The Filipina is being monitored at an isolated room at the Ng Teng Fong General Hospital.

Her employer, a 61-year-old Singaporean who also had no history of traveling to China and South Korea, was also among the new confirmed cases.

As of Feb. 29, Singapore has recorded 102 confirmed cases. Seventy-two patients have been discharged and the remaining 30 were still in the hospital.

“Of the 30 confirmed cases who are still in hospital, most are stable or improving,” the ministry said. “Seven are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.”

While it conducts contact tracing and monitoring, the agency advised the public to defer travel to Hubei Province and all nonessential travel to mainland China, Daegu and Cheongdo.

In Hong Kong, two Filipinos who had tested positive remained under monitoring by the Hong Kong government despite being in a stable condition.

Consul General Raly L. Tejada said at a briefing streamed on Facebook that the first Filipino was supposed to have been discharged last week but the Hong Kong government wanted to be cautious.

“They try to test and test and test again to make sure they will not relapse,” he said, adding that the second Filipino was also in stable condition.

Mr. Tejada said six others who had been quarantined tested negative and have been discharged.

Meanwhile, the Philippines must upgrade its response to the novel coronavirus and gear for a potential outbreak in poor areas, a health expert said last week.

Local health authorities should prepare for local transmission of the deadly disease instead of limiting its focus to screening of travelers from overseas, former World Health Organization program officer Wayne Antkowiak said in a lecture in Manila.

Poor people who live in cramped areas are likely to be most at risk of getting infected with the coronavirus disease 2019, he said.

“It’s possible,” Mr. Antkowiak said of local human transmission.

“Any time we have people living in close proximity and high population density areas, you’re certainly more at risk and in the depressed areas, people are living close together and sanitation is not good. Access to health care is not always optimal,” he added.

“COVID-19 can spread quite rapidly and it’s quite infectious,” he pointed out.

The Philippines has confirmed three novel coronavirus cases, all involving Chinese nationals from Wuhan City in China where the virus was first detected. Two of the patients have recovered and one has died, according to the local Health department.

There were 85,403 confirmed global cases of the deadly disease as of Feb. 29, according to WHO data.

More than 79,000 of those cases were from China, followed by South Korea with 3,150 cases and Italy with 888.

“We’re going to have an outbreak soon,” Mr. Antkowiak said. “The possibility of major consequences from visitors is not all that great. We need to be focusing on preparation.”

He said preventing an outbreak is a “community effort.” “It’s going to be a matter of the government mobilizing quarantine,” he added.

The health expert said the virus could be controlled “if you have a strong and coordinated government.”

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR