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SINGAPORE – Additional measures may be needed to keep Covid-19 under control here, as community cases rise and a local group has emerged for the first time in several months.
Covid-19 task force co-chair Lawrence Wong said the country has seen more new infected cases in the community in recent days, and a local group linked to a police para-vet.
“Unfortunately, there were also several recent cases that did not seek medical treatment despite having flu-like symptoms,” he said in a Facebook post on Monday night (January 18).
Wong, who is also the Minister of Education, added that the contact trackers were working hard to identify all potential contacts, narrow down potential cases, and prevent further spread.
“We are also monitoring the situation carefully and considering whether additional measures are needed to ensure that the infection remains under control,” he said.
The number of new cases in the community has increased to 10 cases last week, from eight cases the previous week.
However, the number of unrelated cases in the community has decreased from five cases in the previous week to four cases in the last week.
On Monday night, the Health Ministry confirmed 14 new cases of coronavirus, two of which are in the community.
This brings Singapore’s total to 59,127.
The two new community cases were linked to the police para-vet group, focused on a 32-year-old Singaporean working in the K-9 Unit at 2 Mowbray Road, bringing the number of cases to six.
Four of the six in the group did not seek medical treatment despite presenting symptoms.
The first of the two new cases is a 43-year-old Singaporean who is the wife of a previous case.
He had a runny nose on January 10 and subsequently lost his sense of taste and developed a sore throat and diarrhea on January 12, but had not sought medical treatment.
The Health Ministry contacted her on January 16 as part of its contact tracing efforts and her test came back positive the next day. She was then taken to the KK Children’s and Women’s Hospital.
His serological test came back negative, indicating a possible current infection, the Health Ministry said.
The second community case is that of a 66-year-old Malaysian woman who has been in Singapore since January last year on a long-term visitation pass.
She developed symptoms of acute respiratory infection and diarrhea on January 9, and subsequently lost her sense of taste on January 14. Nor did he seek medical treatment.
The Ministry of Health contacted her on January 16 and tested positive the next day. They took her to Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
His serological test was positive, indicating a probable recent infection.
They are both relatives of a 44-year-old Singaporean administrative officer who works in the same place as the para-vet.
The other 12 boxes were imported, made up of two Singaporeans, four permanent residents, a dependent pass holder, a student pass holder and four work permit holders.
Singaporeans and permanent residents were returning from India, Mexico, Pakistan, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
The clerk’s pass holder came from India, while the student pass holder came from the Czech Republic.
The four work permit holders came from Bangladesh, India and Malaysia.
With 22 cases discharged on Monday, 58,853 patients have made a full recovery from the disease.
A total of 44 patients remain in the hospital, none in intensive care, while 186 are recovering 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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