Two new community cases of Covid-19 are wife and son of shop owner at Chinatown Complex
- The two new cases of Covid-19 infection on Friday are the wife and son of a shop owner who was confirmed to have the coronavirus on Wednesday
- Both the two new cases did not use the TraceTogether App, nor carried their TraceTogether tokens with them
- There were also 16 imported cases on Friday, including six foreign domestic workers
SINGAPORE — The two new cases of Covid-19 infection in the community on Friday (Feb 12) are both family members of a Chinatown Complex shop owner and his son, who were confirmed to have the coronavirus earlier this week, the Ministry of Health said.
The family now forms a new cluster of four.
One of the two new cases is another son of the shop owner, a 33-year-old who is unemployed.
As he had been identified as a close contact of his father’s, he was placed on quarantine at a dedicated facility on Feb 10, the day the shop owner was diagnosed with Covid-19.
The next day, he was tested for Covid-19 even though he was asymptomatic.
His test result came back positive on the same day, and he was conveyed in an ambulance to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID).
His serology test result has come back positive, indicating that this is likely a past infection.
The second case in the community is the shop owner’s wife, a 62-year-old homemaker.
She was placed on quarantine at a dedicated facility on Feb 10 too, and was tested for Covid-19 on the same day even though she was asymptomatic.
Her test came back positive the next day, and she was conveyed in an ambulance to NCID.
Her serology test result has come back negative, indicating that this is likely a current infection.
Epidemiological investigations are ongoing. In the meantime, all the identified close contacts of the cases, including their family members and co-workers, have been isolated and placed on quarantine, and will be tested at the start and end of their quarantine period so that the authorities can detect asymptomatic cases.
MOH said both new cases did not use the TraceTogether App, and while they both had TraceTogether tokens, they did not carry their tokens with them.
“Individuals are reminded to turn on their TraceTogether App or carry their TraceTogether token at all times so that we can quickly identify and isolate the close contacts of Covid-19 cases, and limit further infections,” the ministry added.
IMPORTED CASES
There were also 16 imported cases of Covid-19 infection on Friday. Of these:
Three are Singapore Permanent Residents who returned from India and Indonesia
One is a dependant’s pass holder who arrived from the United Arab Emirates
One is a long-term visit pass holder who arrived from Indonesia
Four are work pass holders who arrived from Myanmar, the Philippines and UAE
Seven are work permit holders who arrived from India, Indonesia and Myanmar, of whom six are foreign domestic workers.
They had all already been placed on stay-home notices (SHN) upon arrival in Singapore and were tested while serving SHN.
CASE FROM INDONESIA
The long-term visit pass holder had arrived from Indonesia on Nov 26 last year and served SHN at a dedicated facility until Dec 10, MOH said.
His swab on Dec 6 during SHN was negative for Covid-19. He is asymptomatic, and was detected when he took a Covid-19 pre-departure test on Feb 10 in preparation for his return to Indonesia.
His test result came back positive for Covid-19 infection the next day, although the Ct value was very high, which is indicative of a low viral load.
His serological test result has also come back positive.
He reported that before his trip to Singapore, he had interacted with his sibling in Indonesia who was confirmed to have Covid-19 infection in October.
Given that these indicate likely past infection, MOH said it has classified the case as imported. He is likely to be shedding minute fragments of the virus ribonucleic acid, which are no longer transmissible and infective to others.
UPDATE ON CONDITION OF CONFIRMED CASES
The total number of infections in Singapore is now 59,777.
Eleven more cases of Covid-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities.
In all, 59,569 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.
There are currently 31 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and one is in critical condition in the intensive care unit.
Another 148 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.
So far, 29 have passed away from complications due to Covid-19 infection.
