Covid-19: 7 people on SIA transit flight that carried 2 Omicron cases had disembarked in S’pore, all under quarantine

SINGAPORE — Seven people on a Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight from Johannesburg that carried two travellers who tested positive for the new Omicron coronavirus strain upon arrival in Sydney had disembarked in Singapore, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said.

MOH said on Monday (Nov 29) that one of the seven people was a close contact of an infected person on the flight, and has been quarantined.

The ministry did not specify if this infected person with Covid-19 is one of the two travellers who the New South Wales health ministry said have tested positive for the new virus strain, which the World Health Organization has labelled as a “variant of concern”.

The six other passengers who disembarked in Singapore are on a 10-day stay-home notice at a dedicated facility where they will be tested for the coronavirus, MOH said.

Earlier in the day, it was reported that two travellers from southern Africa who had transited in Singapore on a flight to Sydney have tested positive for the variant.

MOH on Monday said that the pair had departed Johannesburg in South Africa on Nov 27 via Singapore Airlines SQ481 and arrived at Changi Airport on the same day for their transit flight.

MOH added that their pre-departure tests in South Africa on Friday were negative for Covid-19.

It stressed that most of the travellers on the flight had remained in the transit area at Changi Airport until their departure on flight SQ211 bound for Sydney on Nov 28, and that they had not entered Singapore or visited other areas in Changi Airport.

“Contact tracing is ongoing for airport staff who may have come into transient contact with the cases,” MOH added.