Covid-19: Fully vaccinated nurse, Navy serviceman among unlinked cases; Bukit Merah View cluster grows to 89

• Singapore reported 17 new Covid-19 cases on June 26, 13 of which were in the community
• There were four imported infections
• The number of cases with no known links in the community rose from 13 cases in the week before to 19 cases in the past week

SINGAPORE — A nurse at Changi General Hospital (CGH) and a serviceman from Republic of Singapore Navy, both of whom were fully vaccinated, were among the four Covid-19 community cases with no known sources of infection reported on Saturday (June 26).

In its nightly update on the coronavirus situation here, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said that the 21-year-old nurse developed a fever and runny nose on June 24 and tested positive for the coronavirus the next day.

The Singaporean was detected during the ministry’s rostered routine testing of workers. Her earlier tests — the last being on June 14 — were all negative for Covid-19.

MOH added that the healthcare worker’s serology test result is negative for the N antigen, which suggests the presence of early infection.

The 27-year-old serviceman from the Navy is a close contact of a previous case —a 57-year-old woman who works as a promoter at Guardian pharmacy in Ion Orchard mall.

He was placed in quarantine on June 10 and tested negative for Covid-19 four times.

He developed a fever on June 24, two days after his quarantine ended, and tested positive the next day. The Ministry of Defence said in a press release that he had last visited Tuas Naval Base on June 24. 

In total, MOH reported 17 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, 13 of which were in the community. The remaining four cases were imported.

The ministry said in the afternoon that seven cases were linked to previous infections, while six of the cases in the community had not been traced to earlier cases. 

The numbers were amended in its evening update, bringing the tally to nine cases with links to previous infections, while four had no known links to earlier cases.

Besides the nurse working at CGH and the Navy serviceman, two other cases with no known sources of infection were: 

• A 32-year-old Singaporean woman who works as an administrative staff member at Walt Disney 

• A 76-year-old Singaporean woman who is a retiree.

MOH also reported that the Bukit Merah View market cluster — the largest active cluster — has grown to 89 with the addition of two new cases.

They were among the nine new community cases that were traced to past infections. 

Overall, the number of new cases in the community went down slightly from 109 cases in the week before to 92 cases in the past week.

The number of cases with no known links in the community has, however, gone up from 13 cases in the week before to 19 cases in the past week.

MOH also added one new location to a list of public places that had been visited by Covid-19 cases during their infectious period — Healthy Path Spa located at 84 Bedok North Street 4. A person or persons who were infectious went there on June 17 from 12.50pm to 1.20pm.

NEW CASES IN BUKIT MERAH VIEW MARKET CLUSTER

• A 31-year-old Singaporean woman who is a waitress at Cheflix Restaurant on Killiney Road

• A 28-year-old Singaporean woman who is a police officer deployed at Bukit Merah West Neighbourhood Police Centre

NEW CASE IN 119 BUKIT MERAH VIEW CLUSTER

• A 34-year-old Filipino who works as a foreign domestic worker 

NEW CASE IN 105 HENDERSON CRESCENT CLUSTER

• A 43-year-old Indonesian who works as a foreign domestic worker

NEW CASES IN CHANGI GENERAL HOSPITAL CLUSTER

• A 48-year-old Singaporean woman who is a porter at the hospital

• A 66-year-old Singapoeran man who is also a porter

CASES LINKED TO PAST INFECTIONS

• A 86-year-old Singaporean man who is a retiree

• A 22-year-old Singaporean man who works as a trainee engineer at semiconductors firm Skyworks Global 

• A 26-year-old Singaporean man who works at Helping Hands Cleaning Services 

IMPORTED CASES

• A Singaporean and two permanent residents who returned from India and the United Kingdom

• One short-term visit pass holder who came from Saudi Arabia for a work project in Singapore 

UPDATE ON REMAINING CASES

The total number of Covid-19 cases in Singapore is 62,530

Of these 62,181 people have fully recovered and been discharged, including 20 on Saturday.

There are still 143 patients in hospitals. Of these, most are stable or improving, and four are in critical condition under intensive care.

Another 170 patients are isolated at community facilities. They have mild symptoms or are clinically well but still tested positive for Covid-19.

Thirty-six people have died from complications due to the disease, including an 84-year-old Singaporean woman who died on Saturday.