(3rd LD) S. Korea adds 2 more virus cases at 18, one confirmed after trip to Singapore

(ATTN: RECASTS headline; UPDATES throughout; CHANGES photo)

SEOUL, Feb. 5 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Wednesday confirmed two more cases of the novel coronavirus, bringing the total here to 18, with one of the latest cases involving a patient who had returned from Singapore.

The Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said a 38-year-old South Korean man who recently visited Singapore for work and came into contact with an infected Malaysian tested positive for the virus.

The country's 17th case was informed that one of the people he had contacted in Singapore was infected with the virus, so he visited a clinic in South Korea on Tuesday and was confirmed to have contracted the illness, according to the public health agency.

The 18th case is a 21-year-old South Korean woman and the daughter of the 16th patient, who had returned from a trip to Thailand on Jan. 19 but moved freely for around two weeks before being diagnosed with the virus.

With the 16th patient suspected of infecting her daughter at a clinic in Gwangju, 330 kilometers south of Seoul, those who have been in contact with the 42-year-old South Korean at the facility, including medical staff, were placed in quarantine for close observation.

The KCDC said it is tracing the steps of the country's all confirmed cases to determine where they went and the people they may have met, amid growing concerns over further human transmission.

The public health agency said earlier that it has quarantined 129 people to test for the novel coronavirus and is checking 1,318 who came into contact with an infected person for signs of the illness.

The KCDC said that as of early Wednesday, the virus that is thought to have originated in Wuhan, China, has claimed some 480 lives, while infecting over 23,000 people in 27 countries.

yonngong@yna.co.kr
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