As of 21 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 9 imported cases, who had already been placed on Stay-Home Notice (SHN) or isolated upon arrival in Singapore. Amongst the new cases today, 8 are asymptomatic, and were detected from our proactive screening and surveillance, while 2 were symptomatic.
Summary of new cases
| | | | Breakdown by | | Breakdown by |
| | Number of cases | | Already in quarantine/ isolation before detection | Detected from surveillance | | Symptomatic | Asymptomatic |
| Cases in the community | 1 | | 0 | 1 | | 0 | 1 |
| Cases residing in dormitories | 0 | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 |
| Imported cases | 9 | | 9 | 0 | | 2 | 7 |
| Total | 10 | | | | | | |
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 58662 is a Singaporean who is asymptomatic and was detected when she was tested for COVID-19 before a scheduled cruise trip.
She was conveyed in an ambulance to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases the following day, when her test came back positive for COVID-19 infection. The National Public Health Laboratory has run further tests to verify that she is positive for COVID-19 infection. Her serological test result is pending.
She stays at Jurong West Street 93, and had been at work at Ruising Chemicals Pte Ltd (18 Boon Lay Way) before her test result was confirmed.
It was revealed that on 14 December, she and her family had gone on a Southern Islands tour with 2 other families, totaling 12 persons in all. Investigations are ongoing to assess if there had been any breach of the relevant safe management measures.
Epidemiological investigations are in progress. In the meantime, all her identified close contacts, including her 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 on her household and family contacts to determine if she could have been infected by them.
b) Cases residing in dormitories: 0
There are no cases residing in dormitories today.
c) Imported cases: 9
Amongst the 9 imported cases, 3 (Cases 58660, 58663 and 58665) are Singaporeans who returned from the UK and India. Another 3 are Work Permit holders (Cases 58659 and 58667) currently employed in Singapore who arrived from Indonesia and Myanmar, and a Student’s Pass holder (Case 58666) who arrived from Myanmar. The remaining cases (Cases 58654, 58655 and 58661) are Short-Term Visit Pass holders who are crew members of separate vessels which arrived from Indonesia. They had not disembarked from their ships until they were conveyed to a quarantine facility or hospital.
They had all already been placed on SHN or isolated upon arrival in Singapore and were tested while serving SHN or during isolation.
3. Please refer to the Annexes and MOH’s daily Situation Report (www.moh.gov.sg/covid-19/situation-report) for details.
4. Epidemiological investigations are in progress. In the meantime, all the identified close contacts of the cases 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 cases could have been infected by them.
Investigations into 13 cases who served SHN at Mandarin Orchard Singapore
5. MOH is investigating 13 previously reported cases[1] of COVID-19 infection amongst individuals who had served SHN at Mandarin Orchard Singapore between 22 October and 11 November 2020. As a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of all guests, the hotel has stopped accepting new guests since 19 December, and all existing guests checked out by 9pm on 20 December. All individuals serving SHN at Mandarin Orchard Singapore have been transported via dedicated vehicles to an alternative SHN dedicated facility on 20 December.
6. MOH has completed our special testing operations to test all individuals serving SHN at Mandarin Orchard Singapore, as well as staff of the hotel. In total, 394 persons serving SHN at the hotel have been swabbed. Of these, 391 were tested negative while 3 (Cases 58656, 58657 and 58658) were tested positive on 20 December and were immediately conveyed to the hospital via ambulance. These 3 cases have also tested serology positive. Given their serology results and recent travel history, it is likely that these are imported cases who were infected while they were overseas. These cases were announced by MOH on 20 December, and included in our daily case count.
7. In total, MOH has tested 571 staff of Mandarin Orchard Singapore, and all the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test results have come back negative for COVID-19 infection. This means there is no ongoing infection among staff of the hotel. The serological tests of 8 more staff have come back positive, indicating likely past infections, in addition to the 3 announced yesterday. Epidemiological investigations of these 11 cases are in progress. In the meantime, we will test their identified close contacts as a precautionary measure, and also conduct serological tests to determine if these individuals could have been infected by them.
8. Singapore reports COVID-19 cases in accordance with international practice. Every case who tested positive through a PCR test and is assessed to be an acute infection is reported and included in our case count. We follow the World Health Organization’s criterion that only positive results from confirmatory tests (i.e. PCR tests) are included in the case count. This ensures consistency in reporting cases across countries. The 11 cases whose serological tests have come back positive, but whose PCR test results are negative for COVID-19 infection, are therefore not included in our daily case count.
Update on condition of confirmed cases
9. 8 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 58,287 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.
10. There are currently 46 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and none is in the intensive care unit. 70 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.
MINISTRY OF HEALTH
21 DECEMBER 2020
[1] Cases 58204, 58235, 58233, 58236, 58237, 58234, 58244, 58245, 58253, 58252, 58268, 58281 and 58284. They were confirmed between 2 November and 11 November to have COVID-19 infection. These cases were classified as imported cases due to their recent travel history.