3 New Cases of Locally Transmitted COVID-19 Infection

      As of 11 February 2021, 12pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and verified that there are 3 new cases of locally transmitted COVID-19 infection. The cases are 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) upon arrival in Singapore. Amongst the new cases today, 7 are asymptomatic, and were detected from our proactive screening and surveillance, while 5 were symptomatic. 

Summary of new cases

2.      Overall, the number of new cases in the community has increased from 3 cases in the week before to 7 cases in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also increased from 2 cases in the week before to 6 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 135 confirmed cases reported from 5 February to 11 February, 77 cases have tested positive for their serology tests, 37 have tested negative, and 21 serology test results are pending.

Case Details

a) Cases in the community: 3

There are 3 cases in the community today, of whom 2 are currently unlinked.

Case 60138

Case 60138 is a 66 year-old male Singapore Permanent Resident who works as a stall owner of a sundry shop at Chinatown Complex (335 Smith Street).

He developed a dry cough on 28 January and anosmia on 9 February but did not seek medical attention. He was subsequently detected from our community surveillance testing of stallholders and shop owners in Chinatown on 9 February. His test result came back positive for COVID-19 infection on 10 February, and he was conveyed in an ambulance to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID). His serology test result has come back negative, indicating that this is likely a current infection.

Case 60150

Case 60150 is a 32 year-old male Singaporean who is the son of Case 60138 and works part-time as a waiter at Swensen’s located at Changi Airport Terminal 3. He was last at work on 8 February.

He developed a runny nose on 8 February after work but did not seek medical treatment. As he had been identified as a close contact of Case 60138, he was contacted by MOH on 10 February and placed on quarantine. He reported his symptoms and was conveyed to NCID where he was tested for COVID-19 on the same day. His test came back positive for COVID-19 infection on 11 February. His serology test result has come back negative, indicating that this is likely a current infection.

We strongly urge everyone to do their part to reduce the risk of transmission. Those who are unwell, including those showing early/mild symptoms, should be socially responsible and seek medical attention immediately and stay at home to prevent the spread of illness to others.

Effective contact tracing is an important enabler to ringfence community transmission. Both Cases 60138 and 60150 do not use the TraceTogether App, and while they both have TraceTogether tokens, they did not carry their tokens with them. Individuals are reminded to turn on their TraceTogether App or carry their TraceTogether token at all times so that we can quickly identify and isolate the close contacts of COVID-19 cases, and limit further infections.

Case 60145
Case 60145 is a 20 year-old male Singaporean who is a full-time National Serviceman. He works at the Singapore Armed Forces premises at 200 Airport Road. He does not stay in camp, and his work does not entail interacting with other units.
He felt unwell on 3 February, and sought medical treatment at a general practitioner clinic. As he did not have symptoms associated with acute respiratory infection, he was not tested for COVID-19 but was placed on medical leave. He subsequently went back to work on 8 February, and on 9 February, he developed fever and a runny nose. He sought medical treatment at the medical centre located at Paya Lebar Airbase and was swabbed. His test result came back positive for COVID-19 infection the next day, and he was conveyed in an ambulance to NCID. His serology test result has come back negative, indicating that this is likely a current infection.
Epidemiological investigations are ongoing. In the meantime, all the identified close contacts of the cases, including their 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: 0There are no cases residing in dormitories today. c) Imported cases: 9Amongst the 9 imported cases,

1 (Case 60154) is a Singaporean and 1 (Case 60143) is a Singapore Permanent Resident who returned from Malaysia and the UAE.1 (Case 60137) is a Dependant’s Pass holder who arrived from the Maldives.1 (Case 60161) is a Work Pass holder who arrived from the UAE. 4 are Work Permit holders who arrived from Indonesia and Myanmar, of whom 2 (Cases 60156 and 60160) are foreign domestic workers.1 (Case 60139) is a Short-Term Visit Pass holder who arrived from India to visit his family member who is a Singapore Permanent Resident.

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

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

5.      The Multi-Ministry Taskforce has been conducting community surveillance testing for identified community groups. This enables us to contain cryptic cases in the community early, and prevent further transmission. In the lead up to Chinese New Year on 8 February and 9 February, we carried out surveillance testing for stallholders, shop owners, persons in the food and beverage industry, as well as food delivery persons operating in and around Chinatown. In all, 1,221 individuals were tested. Of these, 1 (Case 60138) tested positive for COVID-19 infection, 1 sample was rejected by the laboratory, and the remaining 1,219 individuals tested negative for the virus.

Update on condition of confirmed cases 

6.     32 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 59,558 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.

7.     There are currently 33 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. 139 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.

8.    With increased interactions over the Chinese New Year period, there will be higher transmission risks in the community. It is important that everyone remain vigilant and adhere to the safe management measures. The number of visitors per household per day is limited to 8 distinct persons. We encourage everyone to connect digitally with their family and friends instead of going on physical visits. For those who plan to do house visits, they should limit their visits to family members and to not more than 2 other households a day. Face masks must be worn during lohei, and there should not be any verbalisation of the usual auspicious phrases. If we all play our part, we can continue to keep the number of cases in our community low.

MINISTRY OF HEALTH
11 FEBRUARY 2021