SIA pilot, work pass holder who were in UK test preliminarily positive for contagious B117 strain
SINGAPORE — A Singapore Airlines pilot and a work pass holder who had both been to the United Kingdom have tested preliminarily positive for the B117 strain, a potentially more contagious variant of the coronavirus that is circulating in Britain.
The two were among the 27 new cases of Covid-19 reported in Singapore on Wednesday (Dec 30). One is a community transmission while the rest were imported, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said.
The pilot recently travelled to the UK for work from Dec 19 to 22. His first test, on Dec 23, came back negative, but he developed a fever on Dec 26 and went to a clinic the following day, where he was swabbed. This second test was positive.
His serological test result has returned negative, indicating a likely current infection, MOH said.
He has also tested preliminarily positive for the B117 strain, and further tests will be conducted to confirm this.
The work pass holder who had also tested preliminarily positive for the B117 strain arrived from the UK on Dec 7.
He was tested on Dec 17 and his result was negative. He ended his stay-home notice on Dec 21, but started to develop body ache on Dec 22 and symptoms of acute respiratory infection on Dec 25.
He sought medical treatment on Dec 28 and was swabbed for Covid-19. His test result came back positive and so did his serological test result.
There is one case in the community who is currently unlinked, a permanent resident (PR) who works as a marine surveyor at Lloyd’s Register Singapore. His work entails working onboard vessels docked at Sembcorp Marine Admiralty Yard.
He had also developed symptoms of acute respiratory infection. His serological test result has come back negative, indicating that this is likely a current infection.
Among the 26 imported cases, three are Singaporeans and four are PRs who returned from India, Indonesia, Portugal, the UK, the United States and Switzerland.
There are also five work pass holders who arrived from the Philippines, India and the UK. Another seven are work permit holders who arrived from Indonesia, Myanmar and Indonesia, of whom six are foreign domestic workers.
Another three are dependant’s pass holders who arrived from India. In addition, there is a student’s pass holder who arrived from Indonesia, a long-term visit pass holder from India and a short-term visit pass holder who came from Indonesia to visit her Singaporean spouse.
The remaining case is a special pass holder who is a crew member of a ship which arrived from Indonesia.
The total number of Covid-19 cases in Singapore now stands at 58,569.
In all, 58,411 have fully recovered from the infection, including the 11 discharged on Wednesday.
There are currently 52 patients who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and none is in the intensive care unit.
Another 77 with mild symptoms, or are clinically well but still test positive for Covid-19, are isolated at community facilities.
Twenty-nine people have died from complications due to Covid-19 infection.
