Singapore, Vietnam Report Cases of Coronavirus

Medical workers enter an isolation area to visit the first two cases of the new coronavirus infection, in Cho Ray hospital in Ho Chi Minh City on Jan. 23, 2020. (Bach Duong/AFP via Getty Images)

Cases of coronavirus were reported in two other Asian countries, health officials said on Jan. 23.

Two Chinese nationals in Vietnam tested positive for the Novel Coronavirus, health officials said Thursday, AFP reported.

A Chinese man traveled to Vietnam on Jan. 13, from Wuhan, the epicenter of the virus, to visit his son. The son, who lives in Ho Chi Minh City, was infected by his father.

The father was hospitalized on Jan. 17 and the son was hospitalized several days later.

They both tested positive for the coronavirus, which has sickened scores of people in China and killed dozens.

“The patients have shown signs of good recovery, fever has reduced, and they can eat now,” Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Sang said at a meeting at Ho Chi Minh City’s Cho Ray hospital.

Officials in Singapore said they confirmed one case of coronavirus, the first in the country.

Ministry of Health officials told reporters in a briefing Thursday night that the patient, a 66-year-old Chinese man who lives in Wuhan, flew to Singapore on Jan. 20 with his family.

After arriving in Singapore with a sore throat, he developed a fever and a cough and went to the hospital, where he was put in isolation.

A health officer (L) screens arriving passengers from China at Changi International airport in Singapore on Jan. 22, 2020. (Roslan Rahman/AFP via Getty Images)

A militia member uses a digital thermometer to take a driver's temperature at a checkpoint at a highway toll gate in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province on Jan. 23, 2020. (Chinatopix via AP)

The man is still isolated at Singapore General Hospital, health officials said, Channel News Asia reported. He’s in stable condition.

Health officials used contact tracing to identify the roughly 30 people who were seated just in front or behind the man and those who were identified will be contacted.

The man traveled with nine people, including his son, who has also been isolated. The other eight left Singapore; health officials alerted their country of destination, which was not named.

The Ministry of Health said it expects more confirmed cases in the coming days.

Novel Coronavirus is part of the same family of viruses that caused SARS, the disease that killed hundreds in China in 2002-2003. The coronavirus broke out in Wuhan in December 2019. It currently has no vaccine and can spread human-to-human, health officials said this week, prompting fears of a wider spread.

Common symptoms include respiratory symptoms, fever, and shortness of breath. Severe cases can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure, and even death.

Wuhan, a city of some 11 million in southeast China, was quarantined on Wednesday. Authorities shut down all public transportation as well as the airport.

“Unless there is a special reason, citizens should not leave Wuhan city,” the Wuhan municipal government said in a statement.

Cases have been confirmed in the United States, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macao. Suspected cases have been reported in a slew of other countries, including Australia, Mexico, and Brazil.