Singapore awaits SARS second lab result

Singapore was awaiting a second lab result today for a man who initially tested positive for the SARS virus.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation said that, for now, it was a “suspected” case and too soon to be considered the first sign of a renewed outbreak.

Health ministry spokeswoman Bey Mui Leng said results of the second test, conducted locally, were not ready by early today.

If confirmed, the case would mark the return of severe acute respiratory syndrome, which first emerged last November in China and killed more than 900 people before WHO declared in June that the disease was “stopped dead in its tracks”.