18 new infections, including one in community
A 35-year-old long-term visit pass holder from India is the sole locally transmitted coronavirus case announced yesterday, said the Ministry of Health (MOH).
The ministry added that her case may be reclassified as an imported case as her serology test result is pending.
"Should her serology test come back positive, and epidemiological investigations assess that this is a past infection, we will reclassify this as an imported case," it said.
The patient had travelled to India from Nov 30, said MOH. She took a pre-departure test in India on Jan 4 before her flight, and tested negative for Covid-19.
Upon her return, she served a stay-home notice (SHN) at a dedicated facility between Jan 6 and Jan 20. Her swab done on Jan 17 was negative for the virus.
MOH said the woman, who is asymptomatic, was detected when she took a Covid-19 pre-departure test on Tuesday.
Her test result came back positive yesterday.
MOH added that all her identified close contacts, including family members, have been isolated and placed on quarantine. They will be tested at the start and end of their quarantine to detect asymptomatic cases.
It will also conduct serological tests on the close contacts to determine if the case could have been infected by them.
The ministry also reported 17 imported cases yesterday, taking Singapore's total to 59,602.
The cases included one permanent resident and one work pass holder who travelled from India.
There were also 14 work permit holders who arrived from Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia.
The remaining imported case was a sea crew holding a Special Pass who travelled from Indonesia to board a vessel docked here. He tested positive while serving SHN or in isolation after his arrival in Singapore.
The ministry added that the New Ocean 6 cluster has also been closed as there have been no more cases linked to it for the past 28 days. - THE STRAITS TIMES
By the numbers
18 New cases
29 Deaths
1New cases in community
19 Discharged yesterday
17 Imported cases
39 In hospital
59602 Total cases
59305 Total recovered
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