14 new Covid-19 cases in Singapore include 2 who work at Changi Airport Terminal 3

SINGAPORE — Singapore has confirmed 14 new cases of Covid-19, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) in a press release on Saturday (Oct 24).

There are two new community cases, both of whom work at Changi Airport Terminal 3, and one case who resides in a dormitory.

In addition, there are 11 imported cases who had been placed on a stay-home notice upon arrival in Singapore.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has decreased from four cases in the week before, to three in the past week, MOH noted.

The number of unlinked cases in the community has increased from one case in the week before, to three in the past week.

"We will continue to closely monitor these numbers, as well as the cases detected through our surveillance programme," MOH said.

CASES IN THE COMMUNITY

The two new cases in the community are currently unlinked, MOH said. One is a security officer at Changi Airport Terminal 3. Prior to hospital admission, he had gone to work, as well as visited the Singapore National Eye Centre for treatment of a non-related medical condition.

The second case is a temperature screener and swab assistant at Raffles Medical at Changi Airport Terminal 3, and had gone to work prior to hospital admission.

Both cases were detected under MOH's enhanced community testing to test all individuals aged 13 and above who are diagnosed with acute respiratory infection (ARI) at first presentation to a doctor.

While both cases work at Changi Airport Terminal 3, they had not interacted with each other, and epidemiological investigations so far have not established any link between them. As a precautionary measure, all individuals working at Changi Airport Terminal 3 who may have contact with travellers will be tested for Covid-19, MOH said.

The ministry added that as travel volume is expected to pick up in the coming months, it has been in discussion with relevant agencies to ramp up rostered routine testing of frontline staff working at Changi Airport. More details will be provided later.

IMPORTED CASES

Amongst the 11 imported cases, three are Singaporeans and one is a Singapore Permanent Resident (PR) who returned from India and the Philippines.

Another three are work permit holders currently employed in Singapore who arrived from Indonesia and the Philippines.

Three more cases are a student’s pass holder who arrived from France and two long-term visit pass holders who arrived from India and Indonesia.

The remaining case is a short-term visit pass holder who arrived from India. She was allowed entry into Singapore as her parent is a Singapore PR.

They had all been placed on SHN upon arrival in Singapore and were tested while serving SHN.

The sole case on Saturday residing in dormitory was detected through the bi-weekly rostered routine testing of workers living in dormitories.

UPDATE ON EXISTING CASES

The total number of Covid-19 cases in Singapore now stands at 57,965.

Twelve more cases have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 57,844 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.

There are currently 53 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and none is in the intensive care unit.

Another 40 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, 28 have passed away from complications due to the coronavirus infection.