5 New Cases of Locally Transmitted COVID-19 Infection

          As of 4 May 2021, 12pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and verified that there are 5 new cases of locally transmitted COVID-19 infection, all of whom were detected from our proactive testing of patients, visitors and staff at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), and had already been placed on quarantine. In addition, there are 12 imported cases, who had already been placed on Stay-Home Notice (SHN) upon arrival in Singapore. Amongst the new cases today, 11 are asymptomatic, and were detected from our proactive screening and surveillance, while 6 were symptomatic. 

Summary of new cases

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has increased from 11 cases in the week before to 64 cases in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also increased from 4 cases in the week before to 10 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 189 confirmed cases reported from 28 April to 4 May, 55 cases have tested positive for their serology tests, 107 have tested negative, and 27 serology test results are pending.

Case Details

a)         Cases in the community: 5

There are 5 cases in the community today, all of whom are linked to the Case 62541^[1] cluster.

Cases 62801, 62807 and 62808

Cases 62801, 62807 and 62808 had visited TTSH Ward 9D between 18 April and 28 April, and were detected from our proactive case-finding.

•           Case 62801 is a 53 year-old female Singaporean who visited TTSH Ward 9D on multiple occasions between 18 April and 28 April. She was contacted by MOH on 29 April night to self-isolate, and placed on quarantine on 30 April. She is asymptomatic, but was tested for COVID-19 on 2 May during quarantine, and her result came back positive the next day. Her serology test result is pending. Case 62801 received her first dose of COVID-19 vaccine on 17 April.

•           Case 62807 is a 45 year-old female Philippines national who visited TTSH Ward 9D on 25 April. She was placed on quarantine at a dedicated facility on 30 April. She developed a runny nose, sore throat and fever on 2 May and reported her symptoms. She was tested for COVID-19 on the same day, and her result came back positive the next day. Her serology test result is pending.

•           Case 62808 is a 39 year-old female Indonesia national who visited TTSH Ward 9D on 21 April and 22 April. She was placed on quarantine at a dedicated facility on 30 April. She developed a sore throat and fever on 3 May and reported her symptoms, and was tested for COVID-19 on the same day. Her result came back positive but her serology test result is pending.

Case 62803

Case 62803 is a 25 year-old male Singaporean who works as a Pharmacist at TTSH, and had interacted with patients and staff at Ward 9D on 20 April. He was last at work on 28 April. He developed a mild runny nose on 30 April which resolved on the same day. On 1 May, he was tested for COVID-19, and placed on quarantine in the early morning of 3 May. His result came back positive on the same day. His serology test result is pending. Case 62803 received his first dose of COVID-19 vaccine on 25 February, and the second dose on 18 March.

Case 62816

Case 62816 is a 64 year-old male Singaporean who had been warded in TTSH Ward 9D on 26 April, and was transferred to NCID on 27 April. He was tested for COVID-19 on 28 April and 30 April and his results were negative. On 2 May, he developed a cough and fever and was tested again for COVID-19 the next day. His result came back positive on 4 May. His serology test result is pending.

b)         Cases residing in dormitories: 0

There are no cases residing in dormitories today.

c)         Imported cases: 12

Amongst the 12 imported cases,

•           1 (Case 62800) is a Singaporean and 2 (Cases 62806 and 62813) are Singapore Permanent Residents who returned from India.
•           3 (Cases 62804, 62810 and 62814) are Dependant’s Pass holders who arrived from the Maldives and Nepal.
•           1 (Case 62819) is a Long-Term Visit Pass holder who arrived from Malaysia.
•           1 (Case 62817) is a Student’s Pass holder who arrived from Japan.
•           1 (Case 62802) is a Work Pass holder who arrived from the Philippines.
•           3 are Work Permit holders who arrived from Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia, of whom 1 (Case 62805) is a foreign domestic worker.

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.         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.         17 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 60,823 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.

7.         There are currently 131 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and 2 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit^[2]. 267 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. 31 have passed away from complications due to COVID-19 infection.

MINISTRY OF HEALTH
4 MAY 2021

^[1]  Case 62541 is a 46 year-old nurse at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH), and is deployed at Ward 9D. She was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 27 April. There are 40 cases in total linked to TTSH so far.
^[2]  These are not linked to the Case 62541 cluster.