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SINGAPORE – A case of a new strain of coronavirus reported in the UK as potentially more contagious was detected here, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Wednesday (December 23).
The patient is a 17-year-old Singaporean girl who had studied in the UK.
The Health Ministry said that with the B117 strain circulating in the UK, the National Public Health Laboratory is conducting viral genomic sequencing for confirmed Covid-19 cases that recently arrived from Europe.
A total of 31 imported cases from Europe, arriving in Singapore between November 17 and December 17, were confirmed to have the Covid-19 infection this month.
Among them, 12 were not infected with the B117 strain, and one patient, identified as Case 58,504, was found to carry the strain.
Five samples cannot be sequenced due to their low viral load, the Health Ministry said, adding that confirmation of the results of another 11 cases that are preliminarily positive for the B117 strain is pending.
The last two cases have yet to be proven.
The Health Ministry said there is currently no evidence that the B117 strain is circulating in the community.
“All cases had been placed on 14-day stay-at-home notices in dedicated or isolated facilities upon arrival in Singapore, and their close contacts had been quarantined before,” he added.
The 17-year-old Singaporean girl infected with the B117 strain had been studying in the UK since August this year.
He returned to Singapore on December 6 and delivered a stay-at-home notice in a dedicated facility upon arrival.
She developed a fever the next day and was confirmed to have a Covid-19 infection on December 8, the Health Ministry said.
His case was included in the ministry’s case count the same day.
All of his close contacts had been quarantined and tested negative at the end of their quarantine period, the ministry added.
“As she had been isolated when she arrived in Singapore, we were able to surround this case so that there was no further transmission of her,” said the Health Ministry.
As a precautionary measure to reduce the risk of the B117 strain spreading to Singapore, the multi-ministerial task force combating Covid-19 announced on Tuesday that as of 11:59 pm on Wednesday, all pass holders Long-term and short-term visitors with recent travel history to the UK within the last 14 days will not be allowed to enter or transit through Singapore.
On Tuesday, Education Minister Lawrence Wong, who is co-chairing the multi-ministry task force, said after the announcement of the new travel restrictions: “The preliminary assessment is that (the new strain) is 70 percent more infectious, which is significant and therefore we believe it is prudent to detain all travelers arriving from the UK during this period until we can learn more about this new strain of the virus.
Singaporeans and permanent residents returning from Britain are required to undergo a Covid-19 test upon arriving here at the beginning of their 14-day stay-at-home notices.
Meanwhile, 21 new coronavirus cases were announced in Singapore on Wednesday, all of which were imported, bringing Singapore’s total to 58,482.
They were all posted on stay-at-home notices when they got here.
Among them, three are Singaporean and five are PR who returned from Canada, India and the UK.
Another nine are foreign domestic workers who came from Indonesia, India and Myanmar.
Two are holders of student passes who came from India, while the remaining two cases are holders of short-term visit passes that came here from India and Sweden.
No new community or worker dormitory cases were announced on Wednesday.
Overall, the number of new cases in the community has remained low, with a total of one of those cases in the last week, currently unrelated.
With 18 cases discharged on Wednesday, 58,307 patients have made a full recovery from the disease.
A total of 34 patients remain in the hospital, none in intensive care, while 97 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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