Singapore: University hostels designated as nCoV quarantine facilities
Singapore (VNA) – By January 28 morning, Singapore had confirmed five cases of 2019 novel coronavirus
(2019-nCoV) infection while test results for the remaining 57 suspected cases
are still pending.
The country’s Ministry of Heath said the
latest case is a 56-year-old female Chinese national from Wuhan who arrived in
Singapore on January 18.
Singapore has been stepping up precautionary
measures progressively to prevent the novel virus from taking hold in the
country.
According to the Ministry of Education,
all students and school staff who returned from China in the past 14 days will
have to take a compulsory 14-day leave, particularly those working in
pre-schools, health care and the elder care sector.
The ministry has requested students to
move out from hostels in the National University of Singapore (NUS), Nanyang
Technological University (NTU) and Singapore Management University (SMU) as they can be designed as government quarantine facilities which are capable of
accommodating up to 1,000 patients.
Students and parents have been also asked to report on
their travel history during the Lunar New Year holiday while those returning
Singapore from China will have to take a mandated 14-day leave. The
move is expected to affect an estimated 800 students in Singapore.
Singapore on January 23 confirmed the first case of the coronavirus, which was first discovered in the central city of Wuhan, China last
December./.