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SINGAPORE – A Singaporean who had traveled to Indonesia with the Business Travel Pass was one of 12 new imported Covid-19 cases announced on Saturday (December 5).
He is the second known person to have such a pass that is infected. The above patient was announced on November 9 after returning from a trip to the United Arab Emirates.
The pass was first announced by the Ministry of Health (MINSA) on September 23, as part of a pilot program for senior executives in Singapore with regional or international responsibilities who need to travel regularly for official and commercial purposes.
Travelers with this pass, which is not country specific, must adhere to a strict and controlled itinerary when traveling abroad for work purposes.
Upon their return, they are given the option to take a Covid-19 test instead of providing a stay-at-home notice and self-isolating until the test results are released.
The Health Ministry said the patient who had traveled to Indonesia with the Business Travel Pass underwent a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test when he returned to Singapore on November 28 and was isolated while awaiting the test result. test. His test came back negative.
When he developed symptoms on December 2, he was tested again for Covid-19 at a general practitioner clinic. He was confirmed to have the coronavirus on Friday (December 4) and is currently in isolation at the National Center for Infectious Diseases.
Before hospitalization, he had gone to work at the ASL Shipyard at 19 Pandan Road, but had not interacted with his colleagues.
The Health Ministry noted that his serological test came back negative, indicating a possible current infection.
All of his identified close contacts have been isolated and quarantined, the ministry said.
The other 11 imported cases had already been listed on the Notice to Stay at Home or Isolated upon arrival in Singapore, the Health Ministry said.
There was also a case of locally transmitted coronavirus. He is a member of the Philippine crew who arrived from the Philippines on the Normand Australis, which docked in the port of Tuas on November 18.
The Health Ministry said that he had already been quarantined in a government quarantine facility since November 22, after having had close contact with another Covid-19 patient. Before that, he had not disembarked from the ship.
Before boarding the ship, he took a Covid-19 swab prior to departure on November 2 that came back negative.
All 18 crew members were cleaned up on November 19 and quarantined as a precaution.
The new cases bring Singapore’s total to 58,255.
Earlier in the day, the Health Ministry had ordered the Seoul Garden in Tampines Mall to suspend full operations for 10 days starting Saturday for failing to comply with Covid-19 safe management measures.
The ministry said it began investigating upon receiving information that a 32-year-old service engineer had tested positive for Covid-19 after having dinner with 12 other family members at the restaurant on November 21.
Although the family members were seated at separate tables of up to five people each, they had mingled between the tables.
With six cases discharged on Saturday, 58,143 patients have fully recovered from the disease.
A total of 26 patients remain in the hospital, none in intensive care, while 42 recover in community facilities.
Singapore has had 29 deaths from Covid-19 complications, while 15 who tested positive have died from other causes.
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