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SINGAPORE: Twenty-five cases of a variant of the COVID-19 virus originally reported by the UK have been detected in Singapore, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Friday (January 29).
In an email response to the CNA’s inquiries, the Health Ministry said that of the 25 cases of variant B117 as of January 26, five are community cases and 20 are imported cases from Europe.
There are two other cases imported from Europe that tested “preliminarily positive and are awaiting confirmatory results,” the ministry said.
The B117 SARS-CoV-2 variant is one of the few mutated strains of the coronavirus that has caused concern around the world, as it is said to be potentially more contagious. It has spread to 70 countries and territories now.
Singapore reported its first B117 COVID-19 case on December 23, a 17-year-old Singaporean student who had returned from the UK on December 6 and delivered her stay-at-home notice in a dedicated facility.
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Another strain, the South African variant 501Y.V2, which could be more transmissible, may even affect the effectiveness of current COVID-19 treatments and vaccines.
The Health Ministry said no cases of 501Y.V2 have been found in Singapore so far.
THE MINISTRY OF HEALTH IS INVESTIGATING IF THE COMMUNITY CASES ARE LINKED
The five community B117 cases are cases 59028, 59059, 59084, 59340 and 59351. Epidemiological investigations are underway to determine if the five cases are linked, the ministry added.
All close contacts of the cases, including those who preliminarily tested positive for the variant, were isolated and quarantined.
The Health Ministry said it can also conduct an additional active case search “to detect and detect fence cases as early as possible when there are cases that return a preliminary positive result for variant B117.”
“So far no new cases have emerged from the community cases and we hope that our efforts have closed the cases and prevented further transmission,” the Health Ministry said.
READ: What we know about the COVID-19 cases in Singapore that tested positive for the B117 strain
“It is important for everyone to continue to play their role and stay vigilant to mitigate the spread of COVID-19.”
The National Public Health Laboratory performs viral genomic sequencing for all confirmed cases, the Ministry of Health added.
THE FIVE COMMUNITY CASES
The five community cases identified were reported earlier this month by the Ministry of Health. Three of them work in a restaurant at Crowne Plaza Changi Airport, delivering packaged meals to aircrew members and hotel guests.
Case 59028 is a 24-year-old Korean work permit holder who works at the hotel’s Azur restaurant.
His colleague, Case 59059, is a 43-year-old Malaysian woman. Preliminary investigations had said it was probably not infected with the B117 strain, but it was added to the B117 community case list on Friday.
Case 59084 is a 20-year-old Singaporean who did similar work and was identified as a close contact of the Korean work permit holder.
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Cases 59340 and 59351 are a married couple.
Case 59340 is a 39-year-old Singaporean who works for the Singapore Scout Association and deals mainly with clerical work in the office. He is also a part-time bus driver with Westpoint Transit that runs specific routes for Cameron (Singapore) and GlaxoSmithKline Tuas.
His wife, a 39-year-old Singaporean, is an administrative officer at OCBC Tampines Center One, but does not interact with clients, the Health Ministry said.
Epidemiological investigations showed that the couple visited Jewel Changi Airport between 2.35pm and 9.50pm on December 31. Meanwhile, Case 59028, the Korean work permit holder, was at Changi Airport Terminal 3 on the same day, between 7.48pm and 8.49pm.
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