4 New Cases of Locally Transmitted COVID-19 Infection

         As of 21 January 2021, 12pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and verified that there are 4 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 34 imported cases, of whom 33 had already been placed on Stay-Home Notice (SHN) or isolated upon arrival in Singapore. Amongst the new cases today, 36 are asymptomatic, and were detected from our proactive screening and surveillance, while 2 were symptomatic.  

Summary of new cases

2.        Overall, the number of new cases in the community has increased from 3 cases in the week before to 21 cases in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also increased from 1 case in the week before to 6 cases in the past week. We will continue to closely monitor these numbers, as well as the cases detected through our surveillance programme.

3.        Amongst the 206 confirmed cases reported from 15 January to 21 January, 90 cases have tested positive for their serology tests, 29 have tested negative, and 87 serology test results are pending.

Case Details

a) Cases in the community: 4

There are 4 cases in the community today, of whom 1 is currently unlinked and 3 are linked to previous cases.

Case 59512

Case 59512 is a 43 year-old female Singaporean who is the spouse of Case 59429¹. She works from home as an online trader and does not physically interact with her clients. 

She was placed on quarantine on 18 January when Case 59429 was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection. On 20 January, she was tested for COVID-19 even though she is asymptomatic. Her test came back positive on the same day, and she was conveyed to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID). Her serology test result has come back negative, indicating that this is likely a current infection. 

Case 59513

Case 59513 is a 46 year-old female Malaysian national who is a Work Pass holder. She works as a sales personnel at Toppan Merrill Pte Ltd (3 Church Street) but does not interact with clients. She is a household contact of Case 59474². 

She developed a blocked nose on 19 January and stayed at home for most of the day. As she had been identified as a close contact of Case 59474, she was contacted by MOH on 20 January and placed on quarantine. She reported her symptoms and was conveyed to Sengkang General Hospital where she was tested for COVID-19. Her test came back positive on the same day. Her serology test result has come back negative, indicating that this is likely a current infection.

Case 59516

Case 59516 is a 35 year-old male Singapore Permanent Resident who works as a sales personnel at BS Industrial & Construction Supply Pte Ltd (34 Kallang Place). He is a co-worker of Case 59429. 

He developed a sore throat on 18 January but did not seek medical treatment. As he had been identified as a close contact of Case 59429, he was contacted by MOH on the same day but failed to report his symptom. On 20 January, he was tested for COVID-19 while under quarantine. His result came back positive on the same day, and he was subsequently conveyed to the National University Hospital. His serology test result is pending.

Case 59518

Case 59518 is a 42 year-old male Singaporean who works as a dive personnel at Ocean Works Asia Pte Ltd (Block 6, 13 Jalan Terusan). 

He had travelled to Indonesia for work between 4 November and 13 December 2020, and served SHN at a dedicated facility upon his return to Singapore until 27 December. His swab done on 24 December during SHN was negative for COVID- 19. 

He is asymptomatic, and was detected when he took a COVID-19 test on 20 January as part of the requirement for shore-based personnel going onboard a vessel to be tested. His result came back positive for COVID-19 infection on the same day and he was conveyed to NCID. His serological test result has come back positive, which indicates a likely past infection.

Given the relatively long time interval between his travel and positive COVID-19 test, we have classified this case as locally transmitted.

Epidemiological investigations are ongoing. In the meantime, all the identified close contacts of the cases, including their family and household members, as well as 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. 

b) Cases residing in dormitories: 0

There are no cases residing in dormitories today.

c) Imported cases: 34

Amongst the 34 imported cases, 

• 1 (Case 59517) is a Singapore Permanent Resident who returned from the US.
• 1 (Case 59501) is a Dependant’s Pass holder who arrived from the UAE. 
• 1 (Case 59497) is a Long-Term Visit Pass holder who arrived from the US. 
• 2 (Cases 59486 and 59487) are Work Pass holders who arrived from India and the UAE. 
• 26 are Work Permit holders who arrived from Bangladesh, India and Indonesia, of whom 1 (Case 59503) is a foreign domestic worker.
• 1 (Case 59514) is a Short-Term Visit Pass holder who arrived from India to visit her child who is a Singapore Permanent Resident.
• 2 (Cases 59479 and 59515) are Special Pass holders who are sea crew. Case 59479 arrived from Indonesia to board a vessel docked in Singapore, and Case 59515 arrived onboard a vessel from Indonesia and had not disembarked. He was tested for COVID-19, and conveyed to the hospital when his result came back positive.  

Of the 34 cases, 33 had already been placed on SHN or isolated upon arrival in Singapore and were tested while serving SHN or while under isolation. 

Case 59517 is a Singapore Permanent Resident who arrived from the US on 17 January for work purposes, and was tested for COVID-19 upon arrival. His test came back negative on the same day, and he was on a controlled itinerary for the next few days. On 20 January, he took a COVID-19 pre-departure test in preparation for a trip to the UK. His result came back positive for COVID-19 infection on the same day and he was conveyed to the hospital.

Case 59511 is a Work Permit holder who arrived from India on 27 December 2020 and served SHN at a dedicated facility until 10 January 2021. His swab done on 7 January during SHN was negative for COVID-19, and subsequent tests on 11 January and 13 January were also negative. His test on 19 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. 

4.    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

5.    33 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 58,959 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities. 

6.      There are currently 43 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and 1 is in critical condition in the intensive care unit. 204 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. 

MINISTRY OF HEALTH
21 JANUARY 2021

¹Case 59429 is a 39 year-old male Singapore Permanent Resident who works as a sales personnel at BS Industrial & Construction Supply Pte Ltd. He was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 18 January.

²Case 59474 is a 28 year-old female Malaysian national who works as a finance personnel at BS Industrial & Construction Supply Pte Ltd. She was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 20 January.