2 New Cases of Locally Transmitted COVID-19 Infection

                As of 26 April 2021, 12pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and verified that there are 2 new cases of locally transmitted COVID-19 infection. Of these, 1 is in the community, and 1 resides in a dormitory. There are 43 imported cases, who had already been placed on Stay-Home Notice (SHN) or isolated upon arrival in Singapore. Amongst the new cases today, 41 are asymptomatic, and were detected from our proactive screening and surveillance, while 4 were symptomatic. 

Summary of new cases

2.           Overall, the number of new cases in the community has increased from 9 cases in the week before to 10 cases in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has remained stable at 4 cases per week in the past 2 weeks. We will continue to closely monitor these numbers, as well as the cases detected through our surveillance programme.
3.          Amongst the 200 confirmed cases reported from 20 April to 26 April, 61 cases have tested positive for their serology tests, 68 have tested negative, and 71 serology test results are pending.

Case Detailsa) Cases in the community: 1There is 1 case in the community today who is currently unlinked.Case 62439 is a 19 year-old female Singaporean who is a student in the UK, and had been in the UK from 11 September to 1 December 2020. She reported that she developed Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI) symptoms in September in the UK but had not been tested for COVID-19.She returned to Singapore on 1 December, and served SHN at a dedicated facility until 14 December. Her test taken on 11 December during SHN was negative for COVID-19. She is asymptomatic, and was detected when she took a COVID-19 pre-departure test on 23 April in preparation for her trip back to the UK. Her test result came back positive the next day, and she was conveyed to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) 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. b) Cases residing in dormitories: 1

There is 1 case residing in a dormitory today who is currently unlinked.Case 62440 is a 35 year-old male Bangladesh national who is a Work Permit holder. He works as a construction worker employed by Jenta Decoration Contractor but does not typically interact with clients. He resides at Westlite Woodlands Dormitory (2 Woodlands Sector 2), but in a different block from Cases 62181 and 62225 and had not interacted with them.He was in Bangladesh from 17 February to 21 December 2020, and served SHN at a dedicated facility from 21 December 2020 to 4 January 2021. His swab taken on 1 January during SHN was negative for COVID-19. His tests from RRT – the last being on 20 April – were also negative for COVID-19 infection.As part of the precautionary measures taken following the detection of Case 62181[1], Case 62440 was placed on quarantine on 22 April. He is asymptomatic, but was tested for COVID-19 on 23 April during quarantine to determine his status. His test result came back positive for COVID-19 infection and he was conveyed in an ambulance to NCID. Another test conducted by the National Public Health Laboratory on 25 April was negative for COVID-19 infection. His Ct value was very high, and his serology test result has also come back positive. Based on his travel history, he was likely to have been infected while he was overseas, and is shedding minute fragments of the virus RNA, which are no longer transmissible and infective to others. As a precautionary measure, we will still take all the necessary public health actions. c) Imported cases: 43Amongst the 43 imported cases,

• 8 (Cases 62457, 62467, 62468, 62469, 62470, 62474, 62477 and 62483) are Singaporeans and 5 (Cases 62447, 62471, 62472, 62473 and 62476) are Singapore Permanent Residents who returned from India and Indonesia.

• 4 (Cases 62433, 62448, 62459 and 62460) are Dependant’s Pass holders who arrived from India and Nepal.

• 3 (Cases 62478, 62479 and 62484) are Student's Pass holders who arrived from India.

• 6 (Cases 62458, 62465, 62466, 62475, 62480 and 62481) are Work Pass holders who arrived from Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.

• 8 (Cases 62429, 62430, 62431, 62432, 62434, 62435, 62438 and 62462) are Work Permit holders who arrived from India and Malaysia.

• 1 (Case 62441) is a Short-Term Visit Pass holder who arrived from Bangladesh. She was already receiving medical care in Singapore and had returned for further treatment.

• 8 (Cases 62449, 62450, 62451, 62452, 62453, 62454, 62455 and 62456) are Special Pass holders who are sea crew. They arrived from Indonesia 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 cases6.          20 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 60,682 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.

7.          There are currently 109 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and none is in the intensive care unit. 230 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. 30 have passed away from complications due to COVID-19 infection.

[1] Case 62181 is a 35 year-old male Bangladesh national who works at Sembcorp Marine Admiralty Yard and resides at Westlite Woodlands Dormitory. He was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 19 April.