Covid-19: S'pore reports first imported case in 5 weeks among 407 new infections
A man from Bangladesh was placed on stay-home notice upon his arrival in Singapore on June 10, 2020, and later tested positive for the coronavirus.
SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) on Sunday (June 14) reported the country's first imported coronavirus case in more than a month, involving a Bangladeshi national who arrived in Singapore on June 10 to seek medical treatment that is not related to Covid-19.
The man was among latest 407 new Covid-19 cases, which brings the total number of infections here on Sunday to 40,604.
"His health declaration submitted before immigration clearance indicated that he did not have any Covid-19 symptoms, and had not been diagnosed or suspected to have Covid-19 infection," MOH said in a press release on Sunday night.
"He was subsequently tested for Covid-19 after arrival in Singapore and his results came back positive on June 13."
In response to media queries, MOH said that the man was placed on stay-home notice upon his arrival in Singapore, and could only leave his designated place of residence for medical consultation and follow-up.
The last imported case was reported on May 10, exactly five weeks ago.
Sunday's tally included nine cases in the community, of which four are Singaporeans, four are work permit holders and one is a work pass holder.
Of the nine, eight had been picked up as a result of proactive surveillance and screening, and one had already been placed on quarantine.
"Among the four Singaporean cases, three were detected due to our proactive surveillance of persons working at dormitories, even though two of them are asymptomatic," MOH said.
"The remaining case is a family member of a previously confirmed case, and had already been quarantined earlier. He is asymptomatic, and had been swabbed during quarantine to verify his status."
All five work pass and work permit holders were picked up as a result of proactive screening as well, the ministry said.
Two of them work at dormitories while the other three were tested as they work in essential services.
Overall, the number of new cases as well as cases with no known sources of infection in the community has remained stable at an average of eight a day in the past two weeks, MOH said.
A total of 781 patients were discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities on Sunday. In all, 29,589 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.
"There are currently 238 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and two are in critical condition in the intensive care unit," MOH said.
A total of 10,751 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. Twenty-six have died from complications due to Covid-19.
