Foreign domestic worker is sole community case in 2 weeks, 11 other cases imported

SINGAPORE — The sole Covid-19 community case reported here on Friday (March 26) was a 26-year-old foreign domestic worker who started developing symptoms on the day she started work at her employer’s home.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) said that the woman from Myanmar had arrived in Singapore on Jan 23 and served her stay-home notice at a dedicated facility until Feb 6.

Her swab test conducted on Feb 5 during quarantine was negative for the coronavirus. 

After the quarantine, she moved into a boarding house for foreign domestic workers while waiting to be deployed to work.

She did not leave the boarding house between Feb 6 and March 23. 

On March 23, she began work at her employer’s house and that same night, she developed a cough and runny nose.

The next day, she visited a general practitioner clinic, where she was tested for Covid-19. 

Her test result came back positive on March 25 and she was taken to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.

However, a second swab test on the same day done by the National Public Health Laboratory came back negative, while her serological test for past infection was positive.

MOH explained that the Myanmar national may be shedding minute fragments of the viral ribonucleic acid (RNA) from a past infection.

“But given that we are not able to definitively conclude that she had been infected before her arrival in Singapore, we will take all the necessary public health actions as a precautionary measure,” the ministry said.

All of the worker’s close contacts, including her contacts at the boarding house and her employer’s residence, have been isolated and quarantined.

These individuals will be tested at the start and end of their quarantine period to detect asymptomatic cases, MOH said.

Serological tests will also be done to determine if the Myanmar worker was infected by these individuals.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community, as well as the number of cases with no links to previous cases, have gone up from none in the past week to one this week.

IMPORTED CASES

There were 11 imported cases of Covid-19 reported on Friday and all had been placed on stay-home notices or isolated upon their arrival here. 

They are: 

•  

  Two Singaporeans who returned from Qatar and the United Arab Emirates

•  

  One work pass holder who came from the Philippines

•  

  Six work permit holders who arrived from Bangladesh, India and the Philippines

•  

  One student’s pass holder who came from India for studies in Singapore

•  

  One short-term visit pass holder who came from Romania as part of an e-sports event crew

UPDATE ON REMAINING CASES

The total number of infections in Singapore is now 60,265.

Of these, 60,103 people have fully recovered and been discharged, including 17 on Friday.

There are still 27 patients in hospitals. Of these, most are stable or improving, and one is in critical condition under intensive care. 

Another 105 people are isolated at community care facilities. They have mild symptoms or are clinically well but still tested positive for Covid-19.

Thirty people have died from complications due to the disease.