14 NEW CASES OF LOCALLY TRANSMITTED COVID-19 INFECTION

As of 2 May 2021, 12pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and verified that there are 14 new cases of locally transmitted COVID-19 infection. 13 are linked to previous cases, and they are either patients and staff at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) or close contacts who had already been placed on quarantine. 1 is currently unlinked, but has high Ct value (i.e. low viral load) and positive serology test, which may be indicative of an old infection. In addition, there are 25 imported cases, who had already been placed on Stay-Home Notice (SHN) or isolated upon arrival in Singapore. Amongst the new cases today, 28 are asymptomatic, and were detected from our proactive screening and surveillance, while 11 were symptomatic.

Summary of new cases

2.      Overall, the number of new cases in the community has increased from 10 cases in the week before to 51 cases in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also increased from 3 cases in the week before to 11 cases in the past week. We will continue to closely monitor these numbers, as well as the cases detected through our surveillance programme.

3.      Amongst the 212 confirmed cases reported from 26 April to 2 May, 70 cases have tested positive for their serology tests, 101 have tested negative, and 41 serology test results are pending.

Case Details

a) Cases in the community: 14

There are 14 cases in the community today, of whom 13 are linked to previous cases and 1 is currently unlinked. 

Case 62734

Case 62734 is a 37 year-old female India national who is a foreign domestic worker. She arrived from India on 13 January and served SHN at a dedicated facility until 27 January. Her test taken on 26 January during SHN was negative for COVID-19. Following her SHN, she was deployed to her employer’s place of residence.

She is asymptomatic, and was detected when she took a COVID-19 pre-departure test on 29 April in preparation for her return to India. Her test result came back positive the next day, and she was conveyed to Mount Elizabeth Hospital in an ambulance. Her Ct value was very high, which is indicative of a low viral load, and her serology test result has come back positive. She could be shedding minute fragments of the virus RNA from a past infection which are no longer transmissible and infective to others, but given that we are not able to definitively conclude when she had been infected, we will take all the necessary public health actions as a precautionary measure. 

Case 62553¹ Cluster

Case 62760

Case 62760 is a 53 year-old female Malaysia national who works as a hairstylist at Me To Do Studio (883 Woodlands Street 82). She is a household contact of Cases 62629²  and 62638³.

As she had been identified as a close contact of Case 62638, she was placed on quarantine on 29 April and conveyed to a dedicated facility the next day. On 1 May, she developed a sore throat and was tested for COVID-19 upon reporting her symptom. Her test result came back positive for COVID-19 infection on the next day. Her serology test result is negative.

Case 62517 Cluster 

Case 62757

Case 62757 is a 32 year-old male Singaporean who works as an Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) Officer deployed at the Home Team Academy. He was last at work on 26 April.

As he had been identified as a close contact of 62517⁴, he was placed on quarantine on 27 April. He was tested for COVID-19 during quarantine on 28 April and his result was negative. On 1 May, he was tested again and this time, his test result came back positive for COVID-19 infection. His serology test result is pending. Case 62757 received his first dose of COVID-19 vaccine on 27 January, and the second dose on 17 February.

Case 62541 Cluster 

Cases 62713, 62714, 62717, 62723 and 62724

Cases 62713, 62714, 62717, 62723 and 62724 were discharged patients who had been warded in TTSH Ward 9D. They were placed on quarantine and tested positive for COVID-19 infection during quarantine. 

• Case 62713 is a 65 year-old female Singaporean who had been warded in TTSH Ward 9D from 21 April to 25 April, and was discharged home on 26 April. On 29 April, she was placed on quarantine and tested for COVID-19 on 30 April. On the same day, she developed a fever but did not report her symptom. Her test result came back positive for COVID-19 infection on 1 May.

• Case 62714 is a 60 year-old female Singaporean who had been warded in TTSH Ward 9D from 20 April to 26 April, and was discharged home on 27 April. She was swabbed for COVID-19 infection during her hospital stay and tested negative twice on 20 April and 21 April. On 29 April, she was placed on quarantine and tested for COVID-19 on 30 April. Her test result came back positive for COVID-19 infection on 1 May.

• Case 62717 is an 89 year-old female Singaporean who had been warded in TTSH Ward 9D from 7 April to 21 April, and was discharged home on 22 April. On 29 April, she was placed on quarantine and tested for COVID-19 on 30 April. Her test result came back positive for COVID-19 infection on 1 May.

• Case 62723 is an 84 year-old male Singaporean who is a family member of Case 62680⁵, and had been warded at TTSH Ward 9D from 20 April to 22 April. On 29 April, he was placed on quarantine and tested for COVID-19 on 30 April. His test result came back positive for COVID-19 infection on 1 May. On the same day, he developed a fever and shortness of breath. 

• Case 62724 is a 79 year-old male Singaporean who had been warded in TTSH Ward 9D from 21 April to 26 April, and was discharged home on 27 April. On 29 April, he was placed on quarantine and tested for COVID-19 on 30 April. His test result came back positive for COVID-19 infection on 1 May.

Cases 62715, 62721 and 62722

Cases 62715, 62721 and 62722 were visitors to TTSH Ward 9D between 18 April and 28 April. They were placed on quarantined and tested positive for COVID-19 infection during quarantine. 

• Case 62715 is a 50 year-old female Singaporean who is a family member of Case 62573⁶, and had visited Case 62573 in TTSH Ward 9D. On 29 April, she developed a cough and sore throat but did not seek medical treatment. As she had been identified as a close contact of Case 62573, she was placed on quarantine on the same day, but did not report her symptoms. She was tested for COVID-19 on 30 April and her test result came back positive the next day. 

• Case 62721 is a 25 year-old female Singaporean who is a family member of Cases 62714 and 62722, and had visited Case 62714 at Ward 9D. As she had been identified as a close contact of Case 62714, she was placed on quarantine on 29 April. She was tested for COVID-19 on 30 April and her test result came back positive the next day. 

• Case 62722 is a 58 year-old male Singaporean who is a family member of Cases 62714 and 62721, and had visited Case 62714 at Ward 9D. As he had been identified as a close contact of Case 62714, he was placed on quarantine on 30 April and tested for COVID-19 on the same day. His test result came back positive the next day. 

Cases 62732 and 62754

Cases 62732 and 62754 are patients who were warded in TTSH Ward 9D when Case 62541⁷  was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection, and were tested as part of our active case-finding while hospitalised. 

• Case 62732 is a 98 year-old female Singaporean who had been warded in TTSH Ward 9D from 27 April to 29 April. She was tested for COVID-19 on 28 April and her test came back negative. She was subsequently transferred to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) on 29 April, and swabbed again on 30 April. Her test result came back positive for COVID-19 infection on 1 May. 

• Case 62754 is a 90 year-old female Singaporean who had been warded in TTSH Ward 9D from 26 April to 28 April. She was tested for COVID-19 on 28 April and her test came back negative. She was subsequently transferred to NCID on 28 April, and swabbed again on 30 April. Her test result came back positive for COVID-19 infection on 1 May. On 2 May, she developed a fever. 

Case 62731

Case 62731 is a 27 year-old female Malaysia national who works as a physiotherapist at TTSH Ward 9D. On 29 April, she was placed on quarantine and tested for COVID-19 on 30 April. On the same day, she developed a runny nose and reported her symptom on 1 May. Her test result came back positive for COVID-19 infection on 1 May.

Update on testing operations at TTSH

TTSH has completed the swabbing of all inpatients in their main wards on 30 April and the results are all negative. All patients will continue to be monitored closely for their health and wellbeing.

TTSH will also be testing all 12,000 staff on campus. To date, the hospital has swabbed 7,000 staff and priority will be given to swab staff working in clinical areas over the next few days.

b) Cases residing in dormitories: 0

There are no cases residing in dormitories today. 

c) Imported cases: 25

Amongst the 25 imported cases, 

• 2 (Cases 62763 and 62766) are Singaporeans and 8 (Cases 62736, 62747, 62758, 62759, 62762, 62764, 62765 and 62768) are Singapore Permanent Residents who returned from India.
• 4 (Cases 62712, 62741, 62749 and 62756) are Dependant’s Pass holders who arrived from Nepal.
• 2 (Cases 62755 and 62761) are Work Pass holders who arrived from Nepal and the US.
• 5 are Work Permit holders who arrived from Bangladesh, India and the Philippines, of whom 3 (Cases 62716, 62738 and 62773) are foreign domestic workers.
• 2 (Cases 62744 and 62751) are Short-Term Visit Pass holders who arrived from Indonesia. Case 62744 is here for a work project and Case 62751 was already receiving medical care in Singapore and had returned for further treatment.
• 2 (Cases 62752 and 62753) are Special Pass holders who are sea crew. They arrived from China on a vessel, and were tested onboard without disembarking. 

They had all already been placed on SHN or isolated upon arrival in Singapore and were tested while serving SHN or during isolation.

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

5.      Epidemiological investigations are ongoing. 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.

Update on condition of confirmed cases

6.      21 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 60,786 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities. 

7.      There are currently 126 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and none is in the intensive care unit. 275 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. 31 have passed away from complications due to COVID-19 infection.

[1] Case 62553 is a 39 year-old female Vietnam national who works as a cleaner deployed at a community care facility at Tuas South. She was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 28 April.

[2] Case 62629 is a 41 year-old male Malaysia national who works as a sales assistant at New Odense(s) Confectionery & Bakery. He is a household contact of Case 62638. He was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 29 April.

[3] Case 62638 is a 26 year-old female Singapore Permanent Resident who works as a cleaner deployed at a community care facility at Tuas South. She is a household contact of Case 62629 and a colleague of Case 62553. She was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 29 April.

[4]  Case 62517 is a 38 year-old male Singaporean who works as an Immigration & Checkpoints Authority Officer deployed at Changi Airport Terminal 1. He was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 27 April.

[5] Case 62680 is an 86 year-old female Singaporean whose spouse is Case 62723. She was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 30 April.

[6] Case 62573 is a 88 year-old female Singaporean who had been warded in TTSH Ward 9D from 14 April to 28 April. She was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 28 April.

[7] Case 62541 is a 46 year-old female Philippines national who is a nurse at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), and is deployed at Ward 9D. She was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 27 April. There are 27 cases in total linked to TTSH so far.