1. As of 17 January 2021, 12pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and verified that there are 2 new cases of locally transmitted COVID-19 infection. The cases are in the community, and there are no new cases in the dormitories. There are 28 imported cases, who had already been placed on Stay-Home Notice (SHN) upon arrival in Singapore. Amongst the new cases today, 27 are asymptomatic, and were detected from our proactive screening and surveillance, while 3 were symptomatic.
Summary of new cases
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| Breakdown by |
| Breakdown by |
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| Number of cases |
| Already in quarantine/ isolation before detection | Detected from surveillance |
| Symptomatic | Asymptomatic |
| Cases in the community | 2 |
| 0 | 2 |
| 2 | 0 |
| Cases residing in dormitories | 0 |
| 0 | 0 |
| 0 | 0 |
| Imported cases | 28 |
| 27 | 1 |
| 1 | 27 |
| Total | 30 |
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2. Overall, the number of new cases in the community has remained stable at 8 cases per week in the past 2 weeks. The number of unlinked cases in the community has decreased from 5 cases in the week before to 4 cases in the past week. We will continue to closely monitor these numbers, as well as the cases detected through our surveillance programme.
Case Details
a) Cases in the community: 2
There are 2 cases in the community today, both of whom are linked to previous cases.
Case 59365
Case 59365 is a 44 year-old male Singaporean who works as an administrative officer at the Singapore Police Force (2 Mowbray Road). He developed a dry throat on 7 January but had not sought medical treatment.
He was tested on 15 January as part of the special testing operations commenced by MOH at his workplace following the confirmation of Case 59280 [1]. His test result came back positive for COVID-19 infection on 16 January and he was conveyed in an ambulance to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID). His serological test result has come back negative, indicating that this is likely a current infection.
Case 59387
Case 59387 is a 44 year-old female Singaporean who is a family member of Case 59365, and a homemaker. She developed a fever and chills on 9 January, and subsequently loss of smell and taste on 13 January, but had not sought medical treatment.
As part of our contact tracing efforts, she was contacted by MOH on 16 January following the confirmation of Case 59365, and was tested for COVID-19 when she reported these symptoms. Her test result came back positive for COVID-19 infection the next day, and she was conveyed to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital in an ambulance. Her serological 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 we can detect asymptomatic cases. We will also conduct serological tests for the close contacts to determine if the case could have been infected by them.
We strongly urge everyone to do their part to reduce the risk of transmission. Those who are unwell, including those showing early/mild symptoms, should be socially responsible and seek medical attention immediately and stay at home to prevent the spread of illness to others.
b) Cases residing in dormitories: 0
There are no cases residing in dormitories today.
c) Imported cases: 28
Amongst the 28 imported cases,
2 (Cases 59371 and 59373) are Singaporeans and 1 (Case 59384) is a Singapore Permanent Resident who returned from India, Indonesia and the UAE.
3 (Cases 59358, 59359 and 59367) are Dependant’s Pass holders who arrived from India and the UAE.
2 (Cases 59353 and 59377) are Long-Term Visit Pass holders who arrived from India.
5 (Cases 59354, 59360, 59362, 59375 and 59381) are Work Pass holders who arrived from India, Lebanon, the Philippines and the UAE.
14 are Work Permit holders who arrived from Bangladesh and India, of whom 1 (Case 59370) is a foreign domestic worker.
1 (Case 59374) is a Short-Term Visit Pass holder who arrived from India to visit her Singaporean child.
They had all already been placed on SHN upon arrival in Singapore and were tested while serving SHN.
Case 59376 is a Work Permit holder who arrived from Bangladesh on 26 December 2020 and served SHN at a dedicated facility until 9 January 2021. His swab done on 6 January during SHN was negative for COVID-19, and subsequent tests on 10 January and 12 January were also negative. His test on 15 January came back positive for COVID-19 infection, although the Ct value was very high, which is indicative of a low viral load. His serological test result has also come back positive. Given that these indicate likely past infection, we have classified the case as imported. He is likely to be shedding minute fragments of the virus RNA, which are no longer transmissible and infective to others.
3. Please refer to the Annexes and MOH’s daily Situation Report (www.moh.gov.sg/covid-19/situation-report) for details.
Update on condition of confirmed cases
4. 62 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 58,846 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.
5. There are currently 49 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and none is in the intensive care unit. 189 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. 29 have passed away from complications due to COVID-19 infection.
[1] Case 59280 is a 32 year-old male Singaporean who works as a para-veterinarian at the Singapore Police Force. He was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 13 January.