There have been promising signs of the Covid-19 outbreak slowing down in Singapore, with less cases reported in recent days.
On Tuesday (25 Feb), the Ministry of Health (MOH) reported just 1 case of the new coronavirus, bringing the total number of cases in the country to 91.
Here’s where things get interesting and slightly complicated. Based on MOH’s investigations, the new patient seems to have transmitted the virus to a Grace Assembly of God staff during a CNY gathering.
Miraculously, she has reportedly recovered from the infection between 26 Jan and 18 Feb, without being hospitalised.
According to MOH, case 91 is the wife of case 83 — a 54-year-old Singaporean businessman who travelled frequently to Malaysia.
Both apparently attended a service at The Life Church and Missions on 19 Jan.
Based on MOH’s contact tracing, cases 8 and 9 – Chinese nationals from Wuhan – were also at the church that day.
On 25 Jan, cases 83 and 91 then attended a Chinese New Year gathering at Mei Hwan Drive.
Case 66 was also at the gathering that day. He works at the Grace Assembly of God Church and is reportedly the “primary case” of the church cluster, comprising 23 patients. He was said to have attended a staff meeting at the church’s Tanglin branch.
If the above links are too confusing, here’s how they were likely affected:
Here’s a graphic, courtesy of MOH:
Back to tonight’s lone case, Case 91 apparently visited the A&E department at Sengkang General Hospital on 26 Jan after developing respiratory symptoms.
She has, however, recovered sometime between Jan 26 and Feb 18, without having been hospitalised for Covid-19.
While she is currently well, a new test developed by Duke-NUS researchers found that she and her husband were previously infected by the virus.
On the same day, MOH also announced that visitors with prior travel history to Daegu and Cheongdo in South Korea will be barred from entering Singapore.
This new measure came after South Korea saw a sharp spike in Covid-19 cases, most of which were found in the cities of Daegu and Cheongdo.
The country now has 977 confirmed cases, the highest outside mainland China.
Kudos to Singapore’s health officials & police for identifying the links, which would allow them to ring-fence the outbreak and ‘forecast’ future cases.
While the declining numbers of Covid-19 cases is no doubt promising, we cannot take this lightly, and should always practise good personal hygiene.
Featured image adapted from Google Maps.
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