Covid-19: 3 new cases diagnosed, including 57-year-old admitted for dengue

SINGAPORE — Three more people here have been diagnosed as being infected by the Covid-19 coronavirus, the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced on Wednesday (Feb 19), while five people were discharged from hospital.

Of the three new patients, one was admitted at first for dengue fever in the general ward of Ng Teng Fong General Hospital. After she was found to have the Covid-19 virus, those who shared the ward with her had to be transferred to single wards and tested for infection as a precautionary measure, while contact tracing is ongoing for hospital workers who attended to her.

It is unclear if she had both dengue and Covid-19 viruses. MOH said that contact tracing is underway for this patient to establish any links to previous cases or to recent travel to China.

For the other two newly diagnosed patients, one is linked to The Life Church and Missions Singapore cluster and another is linked to the Grace Assembly of God cluster. 

So far, 84 people in Singapore have been sickened by the virus. A total of 34 people have fully recovered and been discharged from hospital. For the 50 patients still in hospital, most are stable or improving. Four are in critical condition under intensive care, MOH said.

With the assistance of the Singapore Police Force, links between a vast majority of locally transmitted cases have been established — they had travel history to China or were connected to existing clusters or other cases. 

The five people discharged on Wednesday were:

• The first confirmed patient, a 66 year-old male Chinese national from Wuhan who arrived in Singapore with his family on Jan 20 and stayed at the Shangri-La’s Rasa Sentosa Resort & Spa in Sentosa

• A 42-year-old Singaporean woman who was a teacher at Victoria Junior College (Case 32)

• A 39-year-old Singaporean woman who went to the Life Church and Missions Singapore (Case 33)

• A 37-year-old Singaporean man from Certis Cisco who served quarantine orders on a Wuhan couple (case 44)

• A 30-year-old Singaporean man who went to the Catholic Church of Christ the King (Case 55) 

NEW CONFIRMED CASES

Case 82

• Case 82 is a 57-year-old Singaporean woman who did not go to China recently. She is warded in an isolation room at Ng Teng Fong General Hospital (NTFGH).

• She reported the onset of symptoms on Feb 9 and sought treatment at Jurong Polyclinic on Feb 10, as well as a general practitioner (GP) clinic on Feb 12. She went to the emergency department at NTFGH on Feb 13 and 15, and was admitted as a dengue patient in a general ward on Feb 15.

• Test results confirmed Covid-19 infection on the afternoon of Feb 18, and she was immediately transferred to an isolation room.

• As a precautionary measure, the patients who shared the room with her while she was in the general ward have been transferred to single rooms. They have been tested for Covid-19 infection and the results are pending. So far, none of them has any respiratory symptoms.

• Contact tracing of NTFGH staff members who had been in contact with the patient is underway. The room has also been thoroughly cleaned and disinfected, MOH said.

• Before she was admitted, the woman had mostly stayed at home in the Jurong West Street 41 area, except when she had to seek medical treatment.

Case 83

• Case 83 is a 54-year-old Singaporean man who had not been to China lately, but he travels frequently to Malaysia for work purposes. He was confirmed to have Covid-19 infection on the morning of Feb 19, and is warded in an isolation room at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID).

• He is linked to the cluster from The Life Church and Missions Singapore in Paya Lebar.

Case 84

• Case 84 is a 35-year-old Singaporean woman with no recent travel history to China. She tested positive for the virus on the morning of Feb 19, and is warded in an isolation room at NCID. She is linked to Case 66, a 28 year-old Singaporean man who works at Grace Assembly of God church and attended church services at God’s Kingdom Bread of Life Church on Jalan Peminpin in Marymount.

UPDATE ON PREVIOUS CASE

• Case 80 is a 38-year-old Singaporean woman with no recent travel history to China. She is warded in an isolation room at the National University Hospital (NUH) and is linked to Case 66, who is part of the Grace Assembly of God cluster.

• She reported the onset of symptoms on Feb 4 and had sought treatment at a GP clinic on Feb 4 and 10. She was referred to NUH for a chest X-ray on Feb 11, and went back to NUH again on Feb 17. Test results confirmed Covid-19 infection on the morning of Feb 18.

• Before she was hospitalised, she had gone to work at NUH where she does administrative tasks and had not interacted with patients since the onset of symptoms. She lives along Fernvale Link in Sengkang.

LINKS TO PREVIOUS CASES

Further epidemiological investigations and contact tracing have uncovered links between previously announced and new cases, MOH said. This was made possible with the assistance of the Singapore Police Force.

• Four of the locally transmitted confirmed cases (Cases 31, 33, 38 and 83), as well as Cases 8 and 9, are linked to The Life Church and Missions Singapore (146B Paya Lebar Road).

• Nine of the confirmed cases (Cases 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 27, 28, 34 and 40) are linked to Yong Thai Hang (24 Cavan Road), a health product shop off Lavender Street.

• Three of the confirmed cases (Cases 30, 36 and 39) are linked to the private business meeting held at the Grand Hyatt Singapore from 20 to 22 January.

• Five of the confirmed cases (Cases 42, 47, 52, 56 and 69) are linked to the Seletar Aerospace Heights construction site.

• In total, 22 of the confirmed cases (Cases 48, 49, 51, 53, 54, 57, 58, 60, 61, 62, 63, 66, 67, 68, 70, 71, 73, 74, 78, 80, 81 and 84) are linked to the Grace Assembly of God.

Investigations on these clusters are ongoing. In addition to the clusters, MOH  said its investigations have identified the following links between cases:

• Case 44, a 37-year-old Singaporean man who works at Certis Cisco Centre and had served Quarantine Orders on two people from Wuhan, was linked to Cases 13 and 26, a mother-and-daughter pair from Wuhan;

• Case 72, a 40 year-old male Chinese national who is a Singapore work pass holder and has no recent travel history to China, is a non-medical contact of Case 59, a 61-year-old Singaporean man who works at a private hospital here;

• Case 75, a 71-year-old Singaporean woman, is a family member of Case 41, a 71-year-old Singaporean man who visited Paya Lebar Methodist Church and a gathering at Braddell Heights Residents’ Committee; 

• Case 77 is linked to Case 50, who in turn is linked to Case 65 and Case 55, a 30-year-old Singaporean man who works at Pulau Bukom and went to the Catholic Church of Christ the King.

As of noon on Wednesday, MOH has identified 2,593 close contacts who have been quarantined. Of these, 1,172 are still under quarantine, while 1,421 have completed their quarantine.