3 NEW CASES OF LOCALLY TRANSMITTED COVID-19 INFECTION

1.      As of 30 January 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 55 imported cases, who had already been placed on Stay-Home Notice (SHN) upon arrival in Singapore. Amongst the new cases today, 54 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 decreased from 17 cases in the week before to 3 cases in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also decreased from 3 cases 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 247 confirmed cases reported from 24 January to 30 January, 122 cases have tested positive for their serology tests, 40 have tested negative, and 85 serology test results are pending.

Case Details

a) Cases in the community: 3

There are 3 cases in the community today, who are currently unlinked. 

Case 59757

Case 59757 is a 72 year-old male Singaporean who is employed by Certis Cisco as an aviation screening officer at Changi Airport Terminal 1. His job entails screening baggage of arrival passengers via X-ray scanners, and directing passengers to the baggage screening lanes. 

He developed a cough and sore throat on 25 January but did not seek medical treatment. On 27 January, he went to work and was tested as part of Rostered Routine Testing (RRT). His pooled test result came back positive for COVID-19 on 28 January night, and an individual test was done later that night at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID). His test result came back positive for COVID-19 infection the next day. His earlier tests from RRT – the last being on 15 January – were negative for COVID-19 infection. His serology test result has come back negative, indicating that this is likely a current infection. 

It was revealed that on 28 January, Case 59757 met with 12 other individuals for tennis at the National Service Resort & Country Club (10 Changi Coast Walk). Investigations are ongoing to assess if there had been any breach of the relevant prevailing safe management measures. 

Case 59757 received his first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine on 25 January at the vaccination centre located at Changi Airport Terminal 4. As the vaccine does not contain live virus, he could not have been infected due to vaccination. It is possible for one to be infected just before or just after vaccination as it typically takes a few weeks for an individual to build up immunity after completing vaccination. 

Case 59788

Case 59788 is a 68 year-old male Singapore Permanent Resident who works as a cleaner at Broadway Coffee Shop (848 Yishun Street 81).

He developed a sore throat and body aches on 26 January but did not seek medical treatment. He went to work on 27 January, and developed a runny nose that night. He stayed at home the next day. On 29 January, he sought medical treatment at a polyclinic where he 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. 

He was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on the same day, and was subsequently conveyed in an ambulance to NCID. His serology test result is pending. 

Case 59789

Case 59789 is a 69 year-old female Singapore Permanent Resident who is the spouse of Case 59788. She is a homemaker. 

She developed a cough and flu on 23 January and but did not seek medical treatment until 29 January when she went to a polyclinic with her husband who was also symptomatic. She was tested for COVID-19 and her result came back positive on the same day. She was subsequently conveyed in an ambulance to NCID. Her serology test result is pending. 

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.

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.

b) Cases residing in dormitories: 0

There are no cases residing in dormitories today.

c) Imported cases: 55

Amongst the 55 imported cases, 

• 3 (Cases 59775, 59776 and 59777) are Singaporeans and 1 (Case 59774) is a Singapore Permanent Resident who returned from Bahrain, Indonesia, Malaysia and the UK.
• 4 (Cases 59783, 59790, 59811 and 59812) are Dependant’s Pass holders who arrived from France, India and Russia. 
• 1 (Case 59778) is a Long-Term Visit Pass holder who arrived from India.
• 2 (Cases 59766 and 59806) are Work Pass holders who arrived from Romania and the UAE.
• 41 are Work Permit holders who arrived from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar, of whom 32¹ are foreign domestic workers.
• 3 (Cases 59773, 59782 and 59787) are Short-Term Visit Pass holders. Case 59773 arrived from Indonesia for a job placement, Case 59782 arrived from India to study in Singapore, and Case 59787 arrived from Bangladesh to visit her family member who is warded in a hospital here. 

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.      MOH has been monitoring existing clusters for any further transmission. As there have been no more cases linked to the Case 58810 and Case 58817 clusters for the past two incubation periods (i.e. 28 days), the clusters have now been closed.

Update on condition of confirmed cases

6.      15 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 59,196 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities. 

7.      There are currently 46 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and none is in the intensive care unit. 236 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] Cases 59758, 59759, 59760, 59761, 59762, 59764, 59765, 59768, 59769,  59770, 59781, 59784, 59785, 59786, 59791, 59792, 59793, 59796, 59797, 59798, 59799, 59800, 59801, 59803, 59804, 59805, 59807, 59814, 59815, 59816, 59817 and 59818.