Swine flu: S'pore raises alert level

April 28, 2009

Swine flu outbreak

S'pore raises alert level

		Gowned nurses prepare equipment at the dedicated assessment and decontamination room for Swine Flu at the Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), where suspected cases are isolated after being brought from the airport. -- ST PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN

SINGAPORE'S Ministry of Health on Tuesday night raised the pandemic alert phase for swine flu outbreaks from green to yellow as the epidemic has entered a new phase with more than 16 countries reporting confirmed or suspected infections.

It comes after the World Health Organisation upped the level from Phase 3 to 4, warning of a significant rise in the risk of a pandemic.

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'The change to a higher phase indicates that there is sustained human-to-human transmission, capable of causing community-level outbreaks,' said a joint statement from MOH, the Civil Aviation of Singapore (CAAS) and Maritime Port Authority (MPA) on Tuesday night.

'This is to better brace ourselves to handle situations where there may be isolated imported cases but no sustained local transmission.'

While the statement restated that there are no human cases of swine flu in Singapore, it revealed that 17 cases have been referred for further medical assessment.

Sixteen were referred to the Communicable Disease Centre (CDC) and one case was seen at Singapore General Hospital. Three cases referred to the CDC, which included the two referred on Monday, have all tested negative for Influenza A. The case seen in SGH has tested negative as well. Most of the other new cases are Singaporeans who have recently returned from the United States, said the statement.

Cases seen at the CDC and in the other hospitals would undergo a preliminary test for Influenza A, the virus type associated with swine flu and the circulating strains. The preliminary test result will be available within a day but confirmation of the swine influenza strain will take up to seven days, said the statement.

Meanwhile, healthcare institutions in Singapore have intensified their infectious disease control measures under the heightened Yellow alert level.

Additional measures include donning full personal protective equipment especially in high risk areas such as the emergency department and intensive care unit, rescheduling elective admissions, cutting down visitors to patients, and recording of contact particulars of visitors.

These will help reduce unnecessary exposure, provide for surge capacity and facilitate contact tracing when the need arises.

Hospitals will also restrict inter-hospital movement of patients and staff, except in emergencies. Polyclinics and specialist outpatient clinics are also setting up triage centres to manage symptomatic patients with a travel history to affected areas, or contact with such persons.

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