Yangon – A Myanmar domestic worker who returned from Singapore has been quarantined at a Yangon hospital after it was determined that her employer tested positive for the coronavirus, according to Myanmar’s Ministry of Health and Sport.
The ministry on Sunday said Singapore’s authorities reported that the 29-year-old returned to Myanmar on Feb. 5.
The maid was tracked down by health officials to an apartment at Pearlmon Housing in Yangon’s South Dagon Township.
She has been quarantined at Yangon’s Waibargi Hospital and 12 people who had contact with her have also been instructed to stay indoors for 14 days, the ministry said.
Dr. Khin Khin Gyi, deputy director of epidemiology at the ministry, posted on Facebook Monday that the maid from Singapore had a fever and was being monitored.
Samples would be tested and her relatives were under home quarantine, the deputy director said.
As of today, Myanmar has 18 people being monitored for the coronavirus but no confirmed case yet.
Myanmar would soon be able to test for the coronavirus as reagents from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Thailand and Japan were expected to arrive in Myanmar, Dr. Khin Khin Gyi added.
Another domestic worker from Myanmar, who was treated in Singapore, was permitted to return home on Sunday after she tested negative for the coronavirus.
Ma Aye Myint Khaing, 28, told the media she was taken to hospital as a coronavirus suspect on Friday after being found unconscious by Singapore’s police after leaving a market.
She told Myanmar’s media that she felt sick after having a soft drink provided by her employer who was feeling unwell after returning from China a month ago. She was not allowed to visit a clinic, she said.
Ma Kitty Aye Mar Mar, one of the volunteers from Singapore-based Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (Home), which assisted Ma Aye Myint Khaing, told The Irrawaddy that the woman was discharged from hospital after testing negative.
According to Chinese news reports, the coronavirus death toll has exceeded 900 in mainland China.
Globally, more than 40,500 people have been infected across Asia, Europe and North America, with two deaths reported outside mainland China.
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