Singaporean homemaker who took Covid-19 test before trip to Vietnam sole community case
SINGAPORE — A 57-year-old Singaporean homemaker who was planning to go to Vietnam was found to have Covid-19 during her pre-departure test.
She was among the 30 new cases reported on Friday (Jan 15). The rest were imported cases.
In its evening update of the coronavirus situation, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said that the woman — who has no known links to other infections in the community so far — took the test on Jan 13 and tested positive the next day.
She was then taken to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.
MOH said that the woman’s polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test yielded a high Ct value, which is “indicative of a low viral load”.
“Her serological test result has also come back positive, which indicates a likely past infection,” the ministry said.
It added that all the identified close contacts of the woman, including her family members, have been isolated and placed on quarantine.
“(They) will be tested at the start and end of their quarantine period so that we can detect asymptomatic cases,” MOH said.
Overall, the number of new cases in the community has gone down from eight in the week before to two in the past week.
The number of cases with no known links in the community has also gone down from five in the week before to two in the past week.
As for the 29 imported cases, the individuals had already been placed on stay-home notice or isolated upon arrival in Singapore.
They include:
One Singaporean and five permanent residents who returned from India, the United Kingdom and the United States
One long-term visit pass holder who came from India
Five work pass holders who arrived from India, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Thirteen work permit holders who arrived from Bangladesh, India and Myanmar — five of whom are foreign domestic workers
A sea crew member holding a special pass who arrived from the UAE onboard a vessel on Jan 11 and had not disembarked. He was taken to the hospital when he tested positive
Three short-term visit pass holders — two of whom had arrived from India and Myanmar to study in Singapore while the third had arrived from India to visit her spouse who is a permanent resident here
MOH said that of the 13 work permit holders, three who came from Bangladesh on Dec 24 had served their stay-home notices at dedicated facilities until Jan 7.
“Their swabs done on Jan 4 during (that period) were negative for Covid-19, and subsequent tests on Jan 8 and 10 were also negative,” the ministry said.
However, their tests on Jan 13 came back positive for Covid-19 “although the Ct values were very high”.
This is indicative of low viral loads, MOH noted.
“Their serological test results have also come back positive. Given that these indicate likely past infection, we have classified these cases as imported. They are likely to be shedding minute fragments of the virus RNA, which are no longer transmissible and infective to others.”
UPDATES ON REMAINING CASES
The total number of infections in Singapore is now 59,059.
Of these, 58,771 people have fully recovered and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities, including 14 on Friday.
There are still 51 patients in hospitals and most are in stable condition or improving. No one is in intensive care.
Another 208 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.
