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SINGAPORE: Three people among those fulfilling a stay-at-home notification at Mandarin Orchard Singapore hotel were found to have COVID-19, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Sunday (December 20).
This comes after Saturday’s announcement that 13 COVID-19 cases that had delivered their stay-at-home notice in November had “high genetic similarity” despite coming from different countries.
It is also likely that three hotel staff members have previously been infected, the Health Ministry said on Sunday.
A total of 394 people who fulfilled their stay-at-home notice at the Mandarin Orchard Singapore hotel were tested for COVID-19. Test results for 384 were ready, while 10 were still pending, the Health Ministry said. A total of 381 tested negative for COVID-19 infection, while three tested positive.
The three cases that tested positive were immediately taken to the hospital by ambulance.
“As they have a recent travel history, it is likely that they were imported and included in today’s (Sunday) case count,” the Health Ministry said.
On Sunday, Singapore reported 19 new COVID-19 cases, all imported.
READ: 19 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore, all imported
The Health Ministry added that the National Public Health Laboratory would carry out “whole genome sequencing and phylogenetic analysis” to determine if the three cases were related to the 13 previous infections.
It would take about four weeks to grow the virus and complete genome sequencing, the Health Ministry said.
The ministry said 158 staff members working at Mandarin Orchard Singapore were also screened.
All the results of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests were negative for the virus. However, the serological tests of three staff members were positive, indicating probable past infections.
“Epidemiological investigations of these cases are ongoing,” the Health Ministry said.
13 PREVIOUS CASES
On Saturday, the Health Ministry announced that it was investigating 13 cases of COVID-19 among people who had delivered their stay-at-home notice at Mandarin Orchard Singapore between October 22 and November 11.
All 13 cases were confirmed to have COVID-19 between November 2 and 11 and were classified as imported cases due to their recent travel history.
The hotel stopped accepting new guests on Saturday. Those who were serving their stay-at-home notice at the hotel were also transported to an alternative facility dedicated to the stay-at-home notice.
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