The United States and Britain have joined Australia and Taiwan in advising pregnant women to avoid non-essential travel to Singapore, while a local health expert has warned the infection rate would rise. However, the Singapore government has not disclosed how numerous infected people are foreign workers.
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Meanwhile, China’s Foreign Ministry has said that its embassy in Singapore had been informed by the Singapore Health Ministry that 21 Chinese nationals in the country are confirmed to have been infected with Zika, adding the health situation was not serious and that some of them had recovered.
Singapore Ministry of Health says all down with Zika suffered mild illness and most are recovering. The tropical island state is prone to other mosquito-borne diseases, notably dengue fever, which, like the Zika virus, is spread by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes.
Singapore authorities detected infections in people living outside the initial outbreak area and have identified a potential second cluster. “As the patient had a travel history to Singapore and her daughter was confirmed to have Zika virus infection on 30 August, the private general practitioner diagnosed her as a “suspected Zika case”, said the minister.
Singapore’s first locally-transmitted Zika case was that of a 47-year-old Malaysian woman which came to light late last month.
In an attempt to control the virus, the Singaporean government has made it a condition that any doctor who diagnoses the condition must tell the government.
Kansas officials say they will use almost $1.2 million in federal funds to fight the spread of the Zika virus.
The World Health Organization has said there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults.
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But Miami is a major tourism draw, with more than 15.5 million people making overnight visits to the city and its nearby beaches past year. It can also spread from a pregnant woman to her fetus resulting in microcephaly, severe brain malformations, and other birth defects. Other isolated cases not linked to travel outside the USA have been confirmed elsewhere in Miami-Dade County, as well as in neighboring counties and in the Tampa Bay area, totaling 47 for the state. Singapore on Wednesday urged pregnant women showing symptoms of fever or rashes to get tested.
