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SINGAPORE: A resident of a migrant worker dormitory has become the first probable case of COVID-19 reinfection in Singapore, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Saturday (February 6).
The case is a 28-year-old Bangladeshi work permit holder living in a dormitory at 43 Tech Park Crescent.
He was confirmed to have the coronavirus on April 12 of last year, and on January 25 of this year, he tested positive again.
“It was identified from the enumerated follow-up tests conducted as part of the Ministry of Health surveillance of recovered workers to monitor their post-infection immunity,” the ministry said.
When the man was confirmed to have COVID-19 last year, he was identified as Case 2513 and was part of the group of infections in the Tech Park Crescent dormitory, which is located at 43 Tech Park Crescent.
He recovered from that infection and tested negative for COVID-19 as of last June.
However, the man tested positive for COVID-19 once again on January 25 of this year and was isolated. “Numerous repeat tests carried out subsequently also came back positive for the virus,” the Health Ministry said on Saturday.
The man’s new infection had not previously been mentioned in the ministry’s situation reports. The CNA has requested more information from the Ministry of Health.
READ: 26 new COVID-19 infections in Singapore, all imported
In its press release on Saturday, the Health Ministry said the man reported that he was feeling unwell on January 22 and 23, but was otherwise asymptomatic.
He is currently protected by the National Center for Infectious Diseases (NCID) and all of his identified close contacts have been isolated and quarantined. None have tested positive for COVID-19 so far.
“While reinfection is rare, the expert panel, which includes infectious disease and microbiology experts from NCID, Singapore General Hospital and the National Public Health Laboratory, has assessed that clinical and laboratory evidence suggests that this it is a probable case of infection reappearance ”, said the Ministry of Health.
“In addition to the positive results of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, there was a corresponding marked increase in antibody titers compared to the period before the probable reinfection, suggesting that you were exposed to a new infection that increased your antibody levels.
“The virus detected in their samples taken in January 2021 is also genetically different from that associated with the 2020 bedroom outbreak, suggesting that it is probably a new and different infection.”
The Health Ministry said it will continue to monitor the recovered COVID-19 cases to determine their post-infection immunity. So far, no significant loss of post-infection immunity has been detected among workers recovered in dormitories.
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