1. As of 6 February 2021, 12pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and verified that there are no new cases of locally transmitted COVID-19 infection. There are 26 imported cases, who had already been placed on Stay-Home Notice (SHN) upon arrival in Singapore. Amongst the new cases today, 25 are asymptomatic, and were detected from our proactive screening and surveillance, while 1 was 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 | 0 | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 |
| Cases residing in dormitories | 0 | | 0 | 0 | | 0 | 0 |
| Imported cases | 26 | | 24 | 2 | | 1 | 25 |
| Total | 26 | | | | | | |
2. Overall, the number of new cases in the community has decreased from 3 cases in the week before to 1 case in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also decreased from 2 cases in the week before to 1 case 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 168 confirmed cases reported from 31 January to 6 February, 75 cases have tested positive for their serology tests, 27 have tested negative, and 66 serology test results are pending.
Case Details
a) Cases in the community: 0
There are no cases in the community today.
b) Cases residing in dormitories: 0
There are no cases residing in dormitories today.
c) Imported cases: 26
Amongst the 26 imported cases,
- 2 (Cases 60020 and 60021) are Singaporeans and 6 (Cases 59996, 60013, 60016, 60018, 60019 and 60022) are Singapore Permanent Residents who returned from Gabon, India, Malaysia, the UK and US.
- 1 (Case 60017) is a Dependant's Pass holder who arrived from India.
- 1 (Case 60009) is a Student's Pass holder who arrived from India.
- 2 (Cases 59999 and 60015) are Work Pass holders who arrived from Germany and the UAE.
- 9 are Work Permit holders who arrived from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar, of whom 6 (Cases 59997, 59998, 60006, 60010, 60011, 60012) are foreign domestic workers.
- 5 (Cases 60002, 60003, 60004, 60005 and 60014) are Short-Term Visit Pass holders. Cases 60002, 60004 and 60005 arrived from the Philippines and UAE for work projects in Singapore. Cases 60003 and 60014 arrived from India to visit their family members who are Singaporeans or Singapore Permanent Residents.
They had all already been placed on SHN upon arrival in Singapore and were tested while serving SHN.
Case 59996 is a 12 year-old female Singapore Permanent Resident who returned from India on 26 December 2020 and served SHN at a dedicated facility upon arrival. While serving SHN, she had been identified as a close contact of Case 59103 [1], a family member who travelled with her, and was subsequently placed on quarantine until 9 January. Her swab done on 8 January 2021 during quarantine was negative for COVID-19. She is asymptomatic, and was detected when she took a COVID-19 pre-departure test on 4 February in preparation for her return to India. Her test result came back positive the next day, and she was conveyed to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
Case 60013 is a 20 year-old male Singapore Permanent Resident who returned from the UK, where he is studying, on 29 November 2020 and served SHN at a dedicated facility until 13 December. His swab done on 9 December during SHN was negative for COVID-19. He is asymptomatic, and was detected when he took a COVID-19 pre-departure test on 4 February in preparation for his trip back to the UK. His test result came back positive the next day, and he was conveyed to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID).
Both cases had very high Ct value, which is indicative of a low viral load, and their serology test results have also come back positive. Given that these indicate likely past infection, we have classified the cases as imported based on their travel history. They are likely to be shedding minute fragments of the virus RNA, which are no longer transmissible and infective to others.
4. Epidemiological investigations are ongoing. In the meantime, all the identified close contacts of the cases, including their family and household members, as well as 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.
5. Please refer to the Annexes and MOH’s daily Situation Report (www.moh.gov.sg/covid-19/situation-report) for details.
Likely re-infected COVID-19 case
6. MOH, in consultation with an expert panel, has detected the first case of likely COVID-19 re-infection in Singapore. He was identified from rostered monitoring testing conducted as part of MOH’s surveillance of recovered workers to monitor their post-infection immunity.
7. The case is a 28 year-old male Bangladesh national holding a Work Permit who resides in a dormitory located at 43 Tech Park Crescent. He had been confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 12 April 2020 (Case 2513). He subsequently recovered, and consistently tested negative for COVID-19 infection from June 2020 onwards. On 25 January 2021 however, his test result came back positive for COVID-19 infection, and he was isolated. Numerous repeat tests conducted subsequently were also positive for the virus.
8. He reported that he felt unwell on 22 January and 23 January, but is otherwise asymptomatic. He is currently warded at NCID. All the identified close contacts of the case have been isolated and placed on quarantine. So far, all of them have tested negative for COVID-19.
9. While re-infection is rare, the expert panel, which comprises infectious diseases and microbiology experts from NCID, Singapore General Hospital and the National Public Health Laboratory, has assessed that the clinical and laboratory evidence suggests that this is a likely case of re-infection. In addition to his positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test results, there was a corresponding marked increase in antibody titres compared to the period prior to the likely re-infection, suggesting that he was exposed to a new infection which boosted his antibody levels. The virus detected in his samples taken in January 2021 is also genetically distinct from that associated with the dormitories outbreak in 2020, suggesting that this is likely a different and new infection.
10. MOH will continue to closely monitor recovered COVID-19 cases to determine their post-infection immunity. So far, there is no indication that recovered workers in the dormitories have significant loss of post-infection immunity.
Update on condition of confirmed cases
11. 32 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 59,405 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.
12. There are currently 39 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. 202 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.
[1] Case 59103 is a male Singapore Permanent Resident who was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 7 January, and was reported in MOH’s press release on 9 January. His serology test result was positive.