Singapore reports 1 new imported Covid-19 case, lowest in more than 3 months
SINGAPORE — A 34-year-old foreign domestic worker from Indonesia is Singapore’s sole imported Covid-19 case on Tuesday (Feb 16). This is the lowest number for imported cases reported here since Nov 2, which recorded one infection then.
In its evening update on the Covid-19 situation, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said that the work permit holder had already been placed on stay-home notice upon her arrival here on Feb 2.
She was tested for the coronavirus while serving quarantine.
The woman’s serology test has come back positive, which is indicative that hers is like a past infection.
“However, as she did not undergo a serology test upon arrival in Singapore, we are not able to definitively conclude that she was no longer infectious when she arrived... As a precautionary measure, we will take all the necessary public health actions,” MOH said.
From Feb 5, newly arrived work permit and S-Pass holders in the construction, marine and process sectors — who had recent travel history to higher-risk countries and regions — were required to undergo mandatory on-arrival polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and serology tests.
S-Pass holders are mid-level, skilled foreign workers who earn at least S$2,500 a month.
Foreign domestic workers and confinement nannies also have to undergo these tests.
MOH said of this latest development: “These (tests) have enabled us to quickly identify persons who have recovered from an old coronavirus infection, and are no longer infective to others by the time they arrived in Singapore, and to exclude them from our daily case count.”
There were no locally transmitted cases in the community for the fourth day in a row.
Overall, the number of new cases in the community has gone up slightly from four in the week before to five in the past week.
The number of cases with no known links in the community has gone down from four in the week before to two in the past week.
MOH added that it has been monitoring the existing clusters for any further transmission.
“As there have been no more cases linked to the Case 59280 cluster for the past two incubation periods, the cluster has now been closed,” MOH said.
The cluster had begun after a 32-year-old Singaporean man who works as a para-veterinarian at the Singapore Police Force was detected to have the virus.
UPDATE ON REMAINING CASES
The total number of infections in Singapore is now 59,810.
Of these, 59,661 people have fully recovered and been discharged, including 20 on Tuesday.
There are 30 patients in hospitals, including one who is in intensive care.
Another 90 patients are isolated at community facilities. They have mild symptoms or are clinically well but still tested positive for Covid-19.
Twenty-nine people have died from complications due to the disease.
