5 New Cases Of Locally Transmitted COVID-19 Infection

       As of 24 April 2021, 12pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and verified that there are 5 new cases of locally transmitted COVID-19 infection. Of these, 5 are in the community, and there are no new cases in the dormitories. There are 18 imported cases, who had already been placed on Stay-Home Notice (SHN) or isolated upon arrival in Singapore. Amongst the new cases today, 17 are asymptomatic, and were detected from our proactive screening and surveillance, while 6 were symptomatic.  

Summary of new cases

2.     Overall, the number of new cases in the community has increased from 7 cases in the week before to 11 cases in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also increased from 3 cases in the week before to 4 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 158 confirmed cases reported from 18 April to 24 April, 58 cases have tested positive for their serology tests, 60 have tested negative, and 40 serology test results are pending.

Case Details

a) Cases in the community: 5

There are 5 cases in the community today who are linked to previous cases. 

Cases 62348, 62349, 62350 and 62365

Cases 62348, 62349, 62350 and 62365 are sea crew working on board bunker tanker MT ALLI. They had not disembarked from the vessel except to go for COVID-19 testing or vaccination.

As they had been identified as close contacts of Case 62113 [1], they were placed on quarantine on 16 April. Amongst them, 3 are asymptomatic, while Case 62350 developed a cough on 21 April but did not report his symptom. They were tested for COVID-19 on 22 April during quarantine, and their test results came back positive on the same day. Their serology test results are pending. 

Cases 62348 and 62350 received their first doses of COVID-19 vaccine on 15 April and 7 April respectively. As it typically takes a few weeks for an individual to build up immunity after completing vaccination, they were likely to have been infected before they were conferred protection after vaccination.

Case 62373 

Case 62373 is a 45 year-old male Singapore Permanent Resident who is a senior executive at Wirana Shipping Corporation. His parents arrived from India on 15 April. His father, Case 62049, tested positive for COVID-19 infection for his on-arrival swab, and was admitted to a hospital. His mother was placed on quarantine from 16 April to 30 April at a government quarantine facility as she had been identified as a flight close contact of Cases 62029 and 62030 [2]. She tested negative for COVID-19 on 15 April for her on-arrival test, and again on 17 April during quarantine. 

While Case 62373 had not travelled to India with his parents, he had requested to take care of his mother at the quarantine facility, and moved into the same room as her on 16 April, where he had remained. On 23 April, he developed a blocked nose and reported his symptom. He was conveyed to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases the next day, and was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection. His serological test result has come back negative, indicating that this is likely a current infection.

Case 62373 received his first dose of COVID-19 vaccine on 26 February and the second dose on 19 March. The COVID-19 vaccine is effective in preventing symptomatic disease for the vast majority of those vaccinated, but it is possible for vaccinated individuals to get infected. Further research is required to determine if the vaccination will also prevent onward transmission of the infection. Our existing key enablers – safe management measures, testing, and contact tracing – continue to be necessary and effective in helping us to mitigate spread and keep community transmission low. 

b) Cases residing in dormitories: 0

There are no cases residing in dormitories today. 

c) Imported cases: 18

Amongst the 18 imported cases, 

• 1 (Case 62371) is a Singapore Permanent Resident who returned from India.

• 3 (Cases 62346, 62368 and 62372) are Dependant’s Pass holders who arrived from India and the Maldives.

• 3 (Cases 62342, 62343 and 62345) are Student's Pass holders who arrived from India.

• 1 (Case 62339) is a Work Pass holder who arrived from India.

• 6 are Work Permit holders who arrived from Bangladesh, India, Myanmar and the Philippines, of whom 2 (Cases 62366 and 62369) are foreign domestic workers.

• 4 are Short-Term Visit Pass holders. Cases 62341, 62356 and 62361 arrived from Croatia, Germany, Indonesia and Romania for work projects in Singapore. Case 62357 arrived from India to visit his family member who is a Singapore Permanent Resident.

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.     16 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 60,629 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities. 

7.     There are currently 88 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. 219 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. 

MINISTRY OF HEALTH
24 APRIL 2021

[1] Case 62113 is a 39 year-old male Indonesian national who is a sea crew on board a bunker tanker. He was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 16 April.

[2] Cases 62029 and 62030 are Dependant’s Pass holders who arrived from India. They were confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 16 April.