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SINGAPORE: Twenty-four new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Singapore as of noon on Monday (January 4), the Ministry of Health (MOH) said.
All cases were imported and placed on a stay-at-home notice or isolated upon arrival in Singapore, the ministry said.
No new cases were found in the community or in the dormitories of foreign workers.
The Health Ministry said all the cases were asymptomatic and detected through screening and surveillance.
Among the new cases is a 62-year-old Singaporean woman who returned from the United States.
READ: Vaccinating Singaporean population against COVID-19 requires ‘considerable resources’, to be the key focus in 2021: Gan Kim Yong
There are also two dependent pass holders who arrived from India: a two-year-old baby who is a contact for a previously reported case, Case 58860, as well as a six-year-old boy who is a contact for three other confirmed cases. Cases – Cases 58893, 58919 and 58920.
Two cases reported Tuesday are work pass holders who arrived from India, as well as a short-term visit pass holder who arrived from Romania to board a ship docked in Singapore as a member of the crew.
Another 18 cases are work permit holders who came from Indonesia and India, of which 15 are foreign domestic workers.
INDONESIAN BOAT CREW MEMBER LINKED TO THE CASE CONFIRMED ABOVE
The Health Ministry said Case 58973, a 28-year-old Indonesian man, is a member of the crew of a ship that boarded a ship on November 1 in Indonesia. The holder of the work permit was quarantined on December 31 as he had been identified as a close contact of a previously reported case, Case 58812, who is a member of the crew of the same ship. This is the second person who has been linked to case 58812, a 47-year-old Indonesian man who also holds a work permit.
Case 58973 was taken to a government quarantine facility on January 2 and tested positive for COVID-19 the next day.
Before that, the Health Ministry said he did not disembark from the ship. All remaining members of the ship’s crew have been quarantined since December 31.
Epidemiological investigations are ongoing and serological tests will be performed for close contacts of the cases, the Health Ministry said.
READ: The COVID-19 vaccine is allowed to be used only if the HSA evaluates it to be ‘sufficiently effective and safe’: Gan Kim Yong
TEN MORE COVID-19 PATIENTS GIVEN
The Health Ministry said that the total number of new cases in the community has increased from one case in the previous week to nine cases in the last week.
The number of unrelated cases in the community has also increased from one case in the previous week to three cases in the last week. More details can be found in the daily situation report of the Ministry of Health.
Ten more cases have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities, bringing Singapore’s total recoveries to 58,497.
There are 67 cases still in the hospital. Most of them are stable or improving and one is in the intensive care unit. Another 128 are being isolated and cared for in community facilities.
COVID-19 VACCINE RESERVATIONS WILL GUARANTEE OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY
Reservations will be required when COVID-19 vaccination begins for Singapore residents, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said in Parliament on Monday.
Advance reservations are necessary given the cold chain requirements at vaccination sites and multi-dose vials of vaccines. It will also ensure operational efficiency and minimize individual wait times, Gan said, adding that more information on the steps to make the reservation will be provided later.
READ: 2 COVID-19 Family Groups – A ‘sobering reminder’ of how easy it is for groups to break up: Lawrence Wong
The vaccine is free to all Singaporeans and long-term residents, including long-term work permit holders.
Gan added that a national effort to vaccinate the Singaporean population will require “considerable resources” to implement and will be one of the government’s key focus areas in 2021.
READ: No local COVID-19 cases of people entering Singapore without pre-departure testing from Nov 18 to Dec 27
In his ministerial statement in Parliament, Gan said that the last time Singapore conducted a vaccination exercise of this scale was in 1959, in response to an outbreak of smallpox. At that time a little more than 1 million people were vaccinated.
“The scale of the current effort is larger, but we are also much better prepared. We started planning this from the beginning, ”Gan said.
As of Monday, Singapore has reported a total of 58,721 COVID-19 cases and 29 deaths from the disease.
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