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SINGAPORE: A 24-year-old Myanmar foreign domestic worker is the only community case of COVID-19 reported in Singapore on Saturday (April 3).
There were 18 new infections in total, of which 17 were imported cases, said the Ministry of Health (MINSA).
The community infection, identified as Case 61508, was a close contact of another servant from Myanmar who tested positive last week.
Case 61508 arrived from Myanmar on January 30 and received a stay-at-home notice in a dedicated facility until February 13. It tested negative for the coronavirus on February 12.
After her stay-at-home notice ended, she moved into a foreign domestic worker pension while she waited to be sent to her employer. He did not leave the pension from February 13 to March 9, the Health Ministry said.
On March 9, he began working at his employer’s home.
She is asymptomatic and tested positive on April 2 after she was swabbed a day earlier as part of the Health Ministry’s investigation into case 61184, the 26-year-old domestic worker from Myanmar who tested positive on March 25.
All close contacts who had interacted with the previous case outside of its infectious period were evaluated as a precautionary measure, the Health Ministry said.
In the last case involving the 24-year-old maid, her serological test result was positive.
“She could be shedding tiny bits of virus RNA from a past infection, but since we cannot definitively conclude that she was infected prior to her arrival in Singapore, we will take all necessary public health actions as a precautionary measure.” “said the Ministry of Health.
Epidemiological investigations are underway to determine if the two cases are related. Meanwhile, the Health Ministry said it has classified Saturday’s only community case as an unrelated local case.
All identified close contacts of the case, including members of his household, have been isolated and quarantined. Tests will be done at the beginning and end of your quarantine period.
The Ministry of Health will also conduct serological tests for close contacts to determine if the case could have been infected by them.
2 FOREIGN DOMESTIC WORKERS BETWEEN IMPORTED CASES
Of the 17 imported cases, three are permanent residents of Singapore who returned from Brazil, India and the Ivory Coast.
Seven are work permit holders who came from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and the Philippines, of which two are foreign domestic workers.
Two cases are student pass holders who arrived from India and the United Arab Emirates, and four are work pass holders who arrived from India.
The remaining case is a short-term visitor pass holder who arrived from Myanmar to visit a family member who is a permanent resident of Singapore.
All imported cases were placed on a stay-at-home notice upon arrival in Singapore, the Health Ministry said.
There were no new cases in the dormitories of migrant workers.
Nine more cases have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities, bringing Singapore’s total recoveries to 60,185.
There are 41 cases still in the hospital. Most of them are stable or improving and one is in the intensive care unit. Another 212 are being isolated and cared for in community facilities.
MORE EMPLOYEES CAN RETURN TO THE WORKPLACE AS OF APR 5.
Starting Monday, more employees can return to the workplace and split team arrangements will no longer be mandatory as Singapore eases some COVID-19 measures.
COVID-19 multi-ministry task force co-chair Lawrence Wong announced last week that Singapore will move from working from home by default to a more “flexible and hybrid” way of working.
Up to 75 percent of employees currently able to work from home can now be in the workplace at any time, up from 50 percent today, Mr. Wong said. The current limit on the time an employee spends in the workplace will also be lifted.
“We will no longer impose a requirement to split teams, but we will strongly encourage employers to continue staggering start times and implement flexible work schedules and, of course, employers must continue to implement all prevailing safe management measures.” He said.
As of Saturday, Singapore has reported a total of 60,468 COVID-19 cases.
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