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SINGAPORE – The 83-year-old passenger who tested positive earlier while aboard Royal Caribbean’s Quantum of the Seas cruise ship tested negative on Thursday, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said.
The ministry gave this update, as it also announced six new coronavirus cases on Thursday, all of which were imported and placed on stay-at-home notices upon arrival in Singapore.
Thursday’s new cases bring Singapore’s total to 58,297.
Regarding the 83-year-old cruise passenger, the Health Ministry said it has reversed the quarantine orders for his close contacts who were previously quarantined as a precaution while investigations were underway.
The ministry added that it will support the laboratory aboard the Quantum of the Seas ship in its review of its testing processes.
The Health Ministry previously said that the 83-year-old man tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday morning and was immediately isolated.
The man had reported to the ship’s medical center with diarrhea and was tested for infection using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test kit on board the ship.
His original PCR sample was later retested at the National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL) and tested negative for Covid-19 infection, the Health Ministry said. A second fresh sample was tested and also came back negative on Wednesday night.
NPHL conducted another test Thursday to confirm its Covid-19 status, which the Health Ministry said later in the day was also negative.
All of the man’s identified close contacts were isolated as a precaution, and all passengers underwent mandatory tests for Covid-19 before being allowed to leave the terminal at Marina Bay Cruise Center.
As a precaution, passengers should also monitor their health for 14 days from the disembarkation date and undergo a swab test at the end of the follow-up period.
Six new cases of coronavirus were confirmed on Wednesday.
All six cases were imported and placed on notice of admission upon arrival in Singapore, the Health Ministry said.
They were a Singaporean, two permanent residents, and three work permit holders currently working here.
One of the work permit holders, a 37-year-old man who arrived from Indonesia, began having symptoms on November 25 and was confirmed positive on Tuesday. She was a contact from a previous case.
The remaining five cases were asymptomatic and were detected through proactive screening and surveillance, the ministry said.
The Singaporean is a 64-year-old man who returned from Indonesia.
The two permanent residents are a 39-year-old man and an eight-year-old girl who returned from India. The girl is linked to a previous case.
The other two work permit holders had arrived from Indonesia.
All six new cases were tested while serving their stay-at-home notice in specialized facilities.
There were no new cases in the workers’ bedrooms and none in the community, the ministry said.
The Health Ministry said the number of new cases in the community has remained low, with a total of one case in the last week that was linked to a previous case.
With six cases discharged on Wednesday, 58,167 patients have fully recovered from Covid-19.
A total of 20 patients were hospitalized, while 60 patients were recovering in community facilities.
Singapore has had 29 deaths from Covid-19 complications, while 15 who tested positive have died from other causes.
Globally, the virus outbreak, which began in December last year, has infected more than 68.2 million people. More than 1.5 million people have died.
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