Sole COVID-19 community case is 11-year-old boy linked to household cluster; 24 new infections include a dormitory resident

SINGAPORE: Two locally transmitted cases were among the 24 new COVID-19 infections reported in Singapore as of noon on Thursday (Apr 22).

One locally transmitted case is in the community while the other lives in a dormitory. Both are linked to previously confirmed cases.

COMMUNITY CLUSTER

The community case is an 11-year-old boy who is a student at Dimensions International College on 58 Lowland Road. He is an Indian national who holds a student’s pass.

The boy is part of a cluster identified on Apr 21 that is linked to an imported case who was likely re-infected in India.

The boy is a household contact of that imported case, and the son of two other confirmed cases in the cluster - Cases 62045 and 62143, a restaurant manager and an accountant. 

As the boy was identified as a close contact of Case 62045, who is his mother, he was placed on home quarantine on Apr 16.

He tested negative for COVID-19 on Apr 17 and Apr 19 during his quarantine.

On Apr 21, he developed a fever and reported his symptom to MOH.

Another test was taken, which came back positive for infection. The boy was then taken to a hospital in an ambulance.

His serology test has come back negative, indicating that this is likely a current infection, said MOH.

WESTLITE WOODLANDS DORMITORY

The dormitory case is a 32-year-old work permit holder from Bangladesh.

He is a roommate of Case 62181, a 35-year-old Bangladesh national. Both cases are employed by Prosper Environmental & Engineering as construction supervisors, and work at Sembcorp Marine Admiralty Yard.

The earlier case, Case 62181, resides at Westlite Woodlands Dormitory, and was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on Apr 19.

READ: New dormitory COVID-19 case is Westlite Woodlands resident; roommate tested positive earlier 

Special testing operations found that 17 residents of the dormitory who had previously recovered from COVID-19 now have the coronavirus again. 

Thursday's dormitory case, identified as Case 62225, was quarantined in a government facility on Apr 19. His COVID-19 test came back positive on Apr 21 and he was taken to the hospital. His serology test result is pending.

The worker was fully vaccinated against COVID-19, with his second dose received on Apr 3, said MOH.

READ: Measures put in place at Westlite Woodlands dormitory after 17 recovered workers test positive for COVID-19 again

READ: Dormitory residents who have recovered from COVID-19 no longer exempt from routine testing

The 17 recovered workers who tested positive were immediately isolated and conveyed to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID).

MOH, together with the NCID and an expert panel comprising infectious diseases and microbiology experts, is investigating whether they are re-infection cases or "persistent shedders" from their earlier infection, the ministry said in a separate press release.

Quarantine orders have been imposed on workers at the affected blocks at Westlite Woodlands Dormitory and the extent of special testing operations have been expanded to the entire dormitory, said MOH.

Movement out of the dormitory will also be restricted until the test results are out.

READ: TraceTogether-only SafeEntry: 7 things you need to know

SEA CREW MEMBER AMONG IMPORTED CASES

The remaining 22 cases were imported and were placed on stay-home notice upon arrival in Singapore, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) in its preliminary daily update.

One case is a Singaporean and two are permanent residents who returned from India, Malaysia and Pakistan.

Four cases are dependant's pass holders who arrived from India, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates.

Two cases are student's pass holders who arrived from India.

Three cases are work pass holders who arrived from India and the Maldives.

Eight cases are work permit holders who arrived from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Myanmar and the Philippines, of whom three are foreign domestic workers.

Two cases are short-term visit pass holders. One is a sea crew member who arrived from India to board a vessel in Singapore. Another arrived from Ethiopia for a work project here.

Twenty-seven more cases of infection have been discharged, bringing the total number who have fully recovered to 60,603.

READ: TraceTogether-only SafeEntry required from Jun 1 at all higher-risk venues

READ: Students will not be denied entry to schools should they misplace, forget TraceTogether token or app: MOE

There are 67 cases still in hospital, with one in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

A total of 204 are isolated and cared for at community facilities.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has increased from two cases in the week before to 10 cases in the past week.

The number of unlinked cases in the community has also increased from one case in the week before to five cases in the past week.

Among the 169 confirmed cases reported from Apr 16 to Apr 22, 63 cases have tested positive for their serology tests, 81 have tested negative, and 25 serology test results are pending.

Thirty people have died due to COVID-19 infection in Singapore.

READ: COVID-19: Singapore to disallow entry for all long-term pass holders, short-term visitors with recent travel history to India

BORDER MEASURES WITH INDIA

All travellers with recent travel history to India, except Singaporeans and permanent residents, will not be allowed to enter or transit through Singapore from Apr 24, MOH announced on Thursday.

This comes amid the worsening outbreak situation in India, which posted a world record of more than 300,000 new daily infections on Thursday.

Announcing the measures, COVID-19 multi-ministry task force co-chair Lawrence Wong said the situation was a reminder of "how unpredictable and volatile the pandemic can be".

"It's been more than one year since we've started this fight against COVID. Things are fluid, they change rapidly, and we have to be prepared," said Mr Wong.

"We are facing an invisible and a very formidable enemy. And the new strains of the virus that we see in many other countries are worrying because it suggests that we have to continue staying on guard, even tightening some measures."

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