Singapore ordered more people into mandatory home quarantine today and said five who had come into contact with a SARS-infected Taiwanese scientist this month were sick but not suffering from the deadly virus.
As a precaution, the five had been isolated at Singapore's Communicable Disease Centre, a health ministry statement said.
The research scientist is believed to have contracted the virus in his Taipei laboratory before making a three-day visit to Singapore during which he showed no signs of fever. On learning of his infection, authorities in the city-state began a search for anyone who might have met him while in Singapore.
Yesterday they put 70 people into quarantine, and another five were added today. The ministry said a total of 276 had been in contact with the man but that not all would be isolated.
The quarantine orders continue until December 19th, when a 10-day incubation period for the virus ends.
Governments in Asia are nervous that Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which killed more than 800 people and battered local economies earlier this year, could resurface in the coming winter.
Authorities tightened health checks at Singapore's international airport, screening all passengers from Taiwan. The flu-like illness killed 33 people in Singapore during a three-month outbreak last spring.
After emerging in southern China in late 2002, SARS infected 8,000 people in nearly 30 countries before it was declared over in July. Worldwide, the virus killed more than 800 people, mostly in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Canada.