1 NEW CASE OF LOCALLY TRANSMITTED COVID-19 INFECTION

1.      As of 26 November 2020, 12pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and verified that there is 1 new case of locally transmitted COVID-19 infection. The case is in the community, and there are no new cases in the dormitories. There are 4 imported cases, who had already been placed on Stay-Home Notice (SHN) upon arrival in Singapore. Amongst the new cases today, 4 are asymptomatic, and were detected from our proactive screening and surveillance, while 1 was symptomatic.

Summary of new cases

2.      Overall, the number of new cases in the community has remained low, with a total of 1 case in the past week. We will continue to closely monitor these numbers, as well as the cases detected through our surveillance programme.

Case Details

a)      Cases in the community: 1

There is 1 case in the community today who is currently unlinked. Case 58401 is a Singaporean who works as a Service Engineer at Master Systems Marine Pte Ltd. His job entails going onboard vessels docked at Marina South Pier and West Coast Pier for servicing and maintenance of ships' navigational systems. He typically worked alone, and had no interaction with vessel crew except for a supervising crew member. On days when he was not working onboard vessels, he had remained at his office located at Vertex Building Tower B (33 Ubi Avenue 3). He reported that he wore a surgical mask during his work onboard the vessels and at the office, and that safe distancing and safe management measures were adhered to.

The case developed a fever and sore throat on 23 November night, and sought medical treatment at a General Practitioner clinic the next day, where he was tested for COVID-19 under our enhanced community testing regime. He was conveyed in an ambulance to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases the following day, when his test came back positive for COVID-19 infection. His serological test has come back negative, indicating that this is a fresh infection.

Epidemiological investigations are in progress. It was revealed that on 21 November, he had dinner with 12 family members at Seoul Garden at Tampines Mall. They had occupied 3 tables and there was mingling between the groups. Amongst those present at the dinner was his 2 year-old niece, who had earlier been issued a 5-day medical certificate (from 20 November to 24 November) for runny nose. She has since been tested negative for COVID-19 infection. Investigations are ongoing to assess if there had been any breach of the relevant safe management measures.

In the meantime, all his identified close contacts (including his family members at the dinner) have been isolated and placed on quarantine and will be tested at the start and end of their quarantine period so that we can detect asymptomatic cases. We will also conduct serological tests on his household and family contacts to determine if he could have been infected by them.

We urge everyone to continue to exercise social responsibility, and to cooperate with the prevailing measures. This is yet another reminder that the virus has not been eradicated and that new cases and clusters can easily emerge in our community, if we let our guard down.

b)      Cases residing in dormitories: 0

There are no cases residing in dormitories today.

c)      Imported cases: 4

Amongst the 4 imported cases, 2 (Cases 58402 and 58403) are Dependant's Pass holders who arrived from Pakistan. The remaining 2 cases are currently employed in Singapore. Case 58400 is a Work Permit holder who arrived from Malaysia and Case 58404 is a Work Pass holder who arrived from Nepal. They had all already been placed on SHN upon arrival in Singapore and were tested while serving SHN.

3.      Please refer to the Annexes and MOH's daily Situation Report (www.moh.gov.sg/covid-19/situation-report) for details.

Update on condition of confirmed cases

4.      13 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 58,104 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.

5.      There are currently 43 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and 1 is in critical condition in the intensive care unit. 20 are isolated and cared for at community facilities. These are those who have mild symptoms, or are clinically well but still test positive for COVID-19. 28 have passed away from complications due to COVID-19 infection.