2 NEW CASES OF LOCALLY TRANSMITTED COVID-19 INFECTION

         As of 25 February 2021, 12pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and verified that there are 2 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 8 imported cases, who had already been placed on Stay-Home Notice (SHN) upon arrival in Singapore. Amongst the new cases today, 8 are asymptomatic, and were detected from our proactive screening and surveillance, while 2 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 4 cases in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also increased from 1 case in the week before to 2 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 68 confirmed cases reported from 19 February to 25 February, 44 cases have tested positive for their serology tests, 15 have tested negative, and 9 serology test results are pending.

Case Details

a) Cases in the community: 2

There are 2 cases in the community today who are currently unlinked. 

Case 60448

Case 60448 is a 33 year-old male Malaysian national who is a Work Permit holder employed by PSA Corporation Ltd as a lashing specialist. 

He arrived from Malaysia on 23 December 2020 and served SHN at a dedicated facility until 6 January 2021. His swab taken on 3 January during SHN was negative for COVID-19. 

He is asymptomatic, and was detected when he was tested on 21 February as part of Rostered Routine Testing (RRT). His pooled test result came back positive for COVID-19 the next day. An individual test was done on 23 February, and he was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 24 February. He was subsequently conveyed in an ambulance to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases. His earlier tests from RRT – the last being on 13 February – were negative for COVID-19 infection. His serology test result has come back positive but we have assessed that this is likely a current infection.

Case 60448 received his first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on 22 January, and the second dose on 14 February. This accounts for his positive serology test as he has likely started producing antibodies following vaccination. However as it typically takes a few weeks for an individual to build up immunity after completing vaccination, he was likely to have been infected before he was conferred protection after vaccination. 

Case 60470

Case 60470 is a 27 year-old female Singapore Permanent Resident who works as a tuition teacher at the Yishun branch of Berries World of Learning School (18 Yishun Avenue 9). 

She developed a runny nose on 23 February after work and sought medical treatment at a General Practitioner clinic the next day where she was tested for COVID-19 as part of our enhanced community testing to test all individuals aged 13 and above who are diagnosed with acute respiratory infection at first presentation to a doctor. Her test came back positive for COVID-19 infection on 25 February, and she was conveyed in an ambulance to Singapore General Hospital. Her serology test result is pending. 

As a precautionary measure, the Yishun branch of Berries World of Learning School will be closed until 28 February for cleaning and disinfection. 

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: 0

There are no cases residing in dormitories today. 

c) Imported cases: 8

Amongst the 8 imported cases, 

• 2 (Cases 60450 and 60453) are Singaporeans and 2 (Cases 60449 and 60455) are Singapore Permanent Residents who returned from India, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
• 3 (Cases 60451, 60457 and 60459) are Work Permit holders who arrived from Indonesia and the Philippines, all of whom are foreign domestic workers.
• 1 (Case 60454) is a Short-Term Visit Pass holder who arrived from India to visit her 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. 

Update on condition of confirmed cases

5.      24 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 59,785 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities. 

6.       There are currently 16 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. 70 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. 

MINISTRY OF HEALTH
25 FEBRUARY 2021