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SINGAPORE: A community case was among 18 new COVID-19 infections reported in Singapore on Wednesday (February 3), the Ministry of Health (MOH) said.
The community case is a 35-year-old Indian citizen who tested positive two weeks after his stay-at-home notice ended.
The long-term visitor pass holder had traveled to India on November 30 and returned to Singapore on January 6. The pre-departure test he took in India on January 4 was negative for COVID-19, the Health Ministry said.
Upon his return, he delivered his stay-at-home notice in a dedicated facility until January 20.
The Health Ministry said his swab test performed on Jan.17 during his stay-at-home advisory was negative for COVID-19.
The woman is asymptomatic and her infection was detected when she took a COVID-19 test prior to departure on Tuesday in preparation for another trip to India.
She was taken to KK Children’s and Women’s Hospital after her test came back positive.
The Health Ministry said it has classified this case as locally transmitted while the result of its serological test is pending.
“If your serological test is positive and epidemiological investigations assess that it is a past infection, we will reclassify it as an imported case,” said the Ministry of Health.
Meanwhile, all of the woman’s identified close contacts, including members of her family, were isolated and quarantined.
Tests will also be performed at the beginning and end of your quarantine period.
“We will also perform serological tests for close contacts to determine if the case could have been infected by them,” the Health Ministry said.
A PERMANENT RESIDENT AMONG IMPORTED CASES
The remaining 17 cases were imported infections and were placed on an admission notice or isolated upon arrival in Singapore.
They include a permanent resident of Singapore and a work pass holder who returned from India.
A total of 14 work permit holders came from Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia, of which nine are foreign domestic workers.
The remaining case is a sea crew member who arrived from Indonesia to board a ship docked here.
They took a swab from him on board the ship and took him to a hospital when his test result came back positive for COVID-19, the Health Ministry said.
No new infections were reported in the dormitories of foreign workers.
Nineteen more cases discharged, cluster closed
Nineteen more cases have been discharged from hospital or community isolation facilities, bringing the total recoveries to 59,320.
There are 39 cases that are still in the hospital. Most of them are stable or improving and no one is in the intensive care unit.
Another 214 patients are isolated or cared for in community facilities. These are people who have mild symptoms or are clinically well, but still test positive for COVID-19.
The Health Ministry also announced that the NewOcean 6 cluster, which had 13 cases, has been closed as there have been no more infections linked to the cluster for the past two weeks.
NewOcean 6, a bunker operated by Palmstone Tankers & Trdg, ceased all operations until further notice, the Singapore Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) said on Jan.6 after nine COVID-19 cases were linked to it.
The first case linked to the group was an Indonesian crew member who tested positive for COVID-19 infection on December 30, 2020 after arriving in Singapore on December 17, 2020.
The number of new community cases fell from five in the previous week to four in the last week, the ministry said.
The number of unrelated cases in the community has increased from one in the previous week to three cases in the last week.
“We will continue to closely monitor these figures, as well as the cases detected through our surveillance program,” the ministry added.
Of the 211 confirmed COVID-19 cases reported between January 28 and February 3, 119 cases tested positive in serological tests, the Health Ministry said.
Forty-one have tested negative and 51 serology results are pending.
READ: Moderna COVID-19 vaccine licensed for use in Singapore, first shipment expected around March
SINGAPORE AUTHORIZES SECOND COVID-19 VACCINE
The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has granted provisional authorization for Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine to be used in Singapore for people 18 years of age or older.
“The HSA’s review of the available clinical data found that the benefits of the Modern COVID-19 vaccine outweigh the known risks,” the authority said Wednesday.
“The vaccine demonstrated a high vaccine efficacy of 94 percent.”
The first shipment is expected to arrive around March, the Health Ministry said.
Moderna’s vaccine is the second COVID-19 vaccine licensed for use in Singapore, after the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
EXTRA COVID-19 TESTING FOR NEWLY ARRIVED FOREIGN WORKERS
The post-stay home notification test regime will extend to all newly arrived workers with S Pass and work permits who, upon arrival, will be required to stay in a designated facility for 21 days.
These workers include foreign domestic workers, confinement nannies, and those in the Construction, Marine, and Process (CMP) sectors.
Previously, only workers heading to dormitories had to be subject to the additional 7-day trial.
The new requirement applies to workers who have not yet completed their 14-day stay-at-home notice on February 5, and to all newcomers to Singapore as of this date.
Additionally, foreign domestic workers and confinement nannies arriving in Singapore from this Friday will need to undergo a serological test for COVID-19, MOM said Wednesday.
As of Wednesday, Singapore has reported a total of 59,602 COVID-19 cases.
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