For the past few months, life in Singapore had returned close to normal, with daily Covid-19 community cases close to zero.
In the last few days, though, we’ve hit a bit of a rough patch reminiscent of Mar 2020, when cases were popping up almost everywhere in the community.
Several clusters have emerged including in Westlite Dormitory, Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) and the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA), and suddenly it seems we’re not so safe any more.
The latest community case that may lead to a new cluster has sprung up in the Yale-National University of Singapore (NUS) campus, when a student tested positive.
The residents of an entire hostel block have now been asked to self-isolate for 7 seven days.
In a press release on Friday (30 Apr), the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced 9 cases in the community.
While 8 of them have been linked to previous cases, 1 of them is still currently unlinked.
He’s a 20-year-old man who is a student at Yale-NUS College.
The Indian national resides on campus, in Cendana College Tower A.
According to MOH, the student had been in India for 10 months, from 21 Mar 2020 to 20 Jan 2021.
While he was in India, he was a close contact of 2 Covid-19 cases.
He returned to Singapore, and last attended classes in the school on 12 Apr.
The man developed symptoms of Covid-19 on 26 Apr – a fever, sore throat and body aches.
Thankfully, he stayed in his room, and was tested by the NUS University Health Centre on 28 Apr.
The positive result was recorded on 29 Apr, and he was deemed as Case 62627 – an unlinked case so far.
MOH observed that his serology test was positive, and his Ct value was high, which means he has a low viral load. Thus,
He could be shedding minute fragments of the virus RNA from a past infection which are no longer transmissible and infective to others.
But since MOH can’t tell for sure when he was infected, “all the necessary public health actions” will be taken as a precaution.
Yale-NUS is also taking all precautions.
Dean of Students Dave Stanfield, in a letter that was seen by MS News, told students that all the places that the infected student visited have been deep cleaned and disinfected.
He acknowledged that this development would be of concern to students, and urged them to practice safe distancing and see a doctor if unwell.
The student concerned is now in a “medical facility”, he added.
Worse still, the entire Cendana College Tower A, which the infected student stayed in, has been placed under a sort of lockdown.
Dr Stanfield asked all residents in the block to “self-isolate in their rooms” for 7 days till 7 May, 12pm.
They’re also to comply with “self-isolation rules that have been shared with them”.
Other students have also been told not to visit or enter the block.
Dr Stanfield also said that all close contacts of the infected student will be quarantined, while all casual contacts are advised to monitor their health.
While the latest case hasn’t been linked to any others yet, it’s concerning as hundreds of students may have been exposed to the virus.
The seriousness of the matter is underlined by the drastic measure of locking down an entire hostel block.
It’ll no doubt cause much inconvenience to its residents who might have made plans.
We wish the infected student a quick recovery, and hope no more cases result.
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Featured image adapted from Google Maps and Facebook.
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