1 New Case of Locally Transmitted COVID-19 Infection

            As of 28 December 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) or isolated upon arrival in Singapore. Amongst the new cases today, 2 are asymptomatic, and were detected from our proactive screening and surveillance, while 3 were 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 who is currently unlinked. 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 58766 is a Singaporean who works as a cabin crew with Singapore Airlines, and a part-time private hire car driver with Grab. He is asymptomatic, and was detected through proactive testing arranged by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore of air crew who had returned from overseas flights.

He recently travelled to the US for work from 12 December to 16 December on a controlled itinerary. He was tested on 23 December, but his test result came back inconclusive on 25 December, necessitating another test. A second test conducted on 25 December was also inconclusive. He had remained at home while awaiting further tests.

His swab on 27 December came back positive for COVID-19 infection and he was conveyed in an ambulance to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases on the same day. His serological test result is negative, which indicates a likely current infection. The cabin crew on the same US flight as Case 58766 have all tested negative for COVID-19 infection on 23 December.

Given the relatively long time interval between his travel and positive COVID-19 test, we have classified this case as locally transmitted while epidemiological investigations are in progress. In the meantime, all the identified close contacts of the case, including his family members and co-workers, 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 for the close contacts to determine if the case could have been infected by them.

b)    Cases residing in dormitories: 0

There are no cases residing in dormitories today.

c)    Imported cases: 4

Amongst the 4 imported cases, 3 (Cases 58768, 58769 and 58771) are Singaporeans who returned from India, Myanmar and the UK. The remaining case (Case 58767) is a Dependant’s Pass holder who arrived from India. They had all already been placed on SHN or isolated upon arrival in Singapore and were tested while serving SHN or under isolation.

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.             16 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 58,386 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.

5.             There are currently 35 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and none is in the intensive care unit. 79 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. 29 have passed away from complications due to COVID-19 infection.