Though the Covid-19 situation in Singapore remains under control, we’ve continued to see occasional new cases in the community over recent days and weeks.
On Tuesday (6 Jan), the Ministry of Health (MOH) reported 31 new Covid-19 infections, among which 2 are in the community.
What’s perhaps more worrying is the fact that both community cases are unlinked. One of them even preliminarily tested positive for the more infectious UK strain of the virus.
According to the Ministry of Health (MOH), both Covid-19 patients – Cases 59028 and 59034 – hold Work Permits in Singapore.
The first case involves a 24-year-old Korean man who works at a restaurant named Azur located in Crowne Plaza Changi Airport.
The man is reportedly in-charged of delivering pre-packed meals to airline crew members and guests staying at the hotel. He does not interact with diners at the establishment.
The 24-year-old was tested on 2 Jan and 4 Jan and started developing symptoms on the latter date.
His results returned positive on 5 Jan and he was brought to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID).
He later underwent a serological test, which turned out negative, suggesting that it’s a “current infection”.
Worryingly, the man had also tested positive for the B117 – or UK – strain of the Covid-19 virus that’s reportedly more infectious. He will undergo confirmatory tests in the days ahead.
The 2nd case involves a 31-year-old Filipino man who arrived from the Philippines on 4 Dec.
He had tested negative for Covid-19 on 1 Dec and 14 Dec, before his flight to Singapore and during his SHN respectively.
The 31-year-old is a Singapore General Hospital employee but has not started work.
A subsequent test on 5 Jan that’s part of his pre-employment health screening returned positive, and he was subsequently brought to the hospital that he was supposed to start work at.
A serological test returned positive, suggesting that it’s likely a past infection
The remaining 29 cases are imported, involving:
A slew of public places visited by Covid-19 patients during their infectious period have also been added. You can check out the full list here.
The emergence of community cases, and especially unlinked ones, can be worrying for residents in Singapore.
Nonetheless, we have faith that MOH and the contact tracers will be able to figure out the source of infection and ringfence it in a timely manner.
If anything, the local cases once again highlight why it’s important for us to continue adhering to Covid-19 measures even at a time when infection numbers are under control.
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Featured image adapted from Google Maps.
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