Covid-19: Early tests show 3 more people infected by Omicron strain, including couple who dined along Orchard Road

SINGAPORE — Three more people here have tested preliminarily positive for the Omicron coronavirus variant. One works at the airport, one is an imported case and the other is a close contact of the imported case.

There are now 19 cases of Covid-19 where Omicron is the virus strain, with 16 already confirmed by the National Public Health Laboratory.

In a news release on Wednesday (Dec 15), the Ministry of Health (MOH) said that the imported case and the close contact are a married couple who had dined at various places in town.

The third case is a loading cabin assistant at Changi Airport Terminal 3 and had not had any contact with flight passengers.

The three, whose nationalities were not disclosed, are fully vaccinated and have mild or no symptoms. They are recovering in isolation wards at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.

MOH said that it is ringfencing the cases through contact tracing.

FLEW IN FROM THE UNITED STATES

MOH said that the imported case is a 36-year-old man who had travelled to Singapore from the United States via the vaccinated travel lane scheme.

His pre-departure test in the US on Dec 6 was negative for Covid-19, as was his on-arrival polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test on Dec 8.

On Dec 10, the result was positive after a supervised antigen rapid test and his PCR test result also came back positive the next day.

The man’s wife, 34, has also tested positive preliminarily for Omicron.

She does not have any recent travel history and was working from home, MOH said.

She was placed on quarantine on Dec 14 because she had been identified as a close contact, and then she tested positive for Covid-19 on the same day.

Between Dec 8 and 9, the couple went out to eat at a number of places:

• Mizuki at Ngee Ann City mall (Dec 8)
• Li Bai Cantonese Restaurant at Sheraton Towers Singapore hotel (Dec 8)
• Merci Marcel at Palais Renaissance (Dec 8)
• Signs A Taste Of Vietnam Pho at Orchard Gateway mall (Dec 9)

MOH said that all customer-facing restaurant staff members, as well as patrons with SafeEntry check-in and check-out timings that coincided with the time that the couple were at the restaurants will receive health risk warnings from the ministry.

“A one-time targeted PCR testing operation will also be conducted for these individuals, whom MOH will contact.”

The ministry added: “All visitors to the affected premises are advised to monitor their health closely, and minimise social interactions as far as possible for 14 days from their date of visit or interaction.

“They are encouraged to see a doctor immediately if they feel unwell.”

CLOSE CONTACTS UNDER QUARANTINE

For the airport worker, the 54-year-old man was tested for Covid-19 on Dec 14 as part of rostered routine testing and his PCR test result came back positive for Covid-19.

He was placed on a daily antigen rapid testing regime from Dec 10 and his test results up to Dec 13 were all negative.

MOH said that the National Public Health Laboratory is conducting whole genome sequencing for all three cases to confirm the virus strain and contact tracing is ongoing.

All close contacts of the cases will be placed on 10-day quarantine at designated facilities and will undergo PCR tests at the start and end of their quarantine.

To date, there are 16 confirmed Omicron cases detected in Singapore, with 14 imported cases and two others who are airport passenger service staff members.

“Given its high transmissibility and spread to many parts of the world, we should expect to find more Omicron cases at our borders and also within our community,” MOH said.

“It is important for everyone to continue to play their part and remain vigilant to mitigate the spread of Covid-19, and to come forward to receive your vaccination or booster dose when offered.”