ICA officer at Changi Airport among three Covid-19 community cases; 20 others imported

• An ICA officer and a TTSH nurse among three community cases
• Third community case is a man who worked in Nepal last year
• The other 20 cases were imported

SINGAPORE — An Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer who works at Changi Airport Terminal 1 was one of the three Covid-19 cases in the community on Wednesday (April 28). Twenty others are imported infections, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said.

Besides the ICA officer, a nurse who works at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) as well as a 58-year-old man made up the community cases that day.

MOH said that the 38-year-old ICA officer had not gone to work since he developed an onset of symptoms. The man had a cough on April 23 and went to a general practitioner clinic on April 24, where he was given two days of medical leave.

He then developed fever, anosmia (partial or complete loss of the sense of smell) and body aches on April 26 and sought medical treatment at TTSH on April 27.

He was subsequently tested for the virus and his test came back positive that same day.

MOH said that the man’s previous tests from the routine testing of workers — the last being on April 22 — were negative for Covid-19.

“His serology test result is pending,” MOH said.

The second case in the community on Wednesday is a 58-year-old Singaporean man who works as a construction project manager in Nepal, and had been there from Feb 13 to Dec 13 last year.

He then returned to Singapore and served his stay-home notice at a dedicated facility until Dec 27. His test taken on Dec 23 was negative for Covid-19, MOH said.

The man, who did not have any symptoms, was detected when he took a Covid-19 pre-departure test on April 26 in preparation for his trip back to Nepal.

His test result came back positive on April 27 and he was taken to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases, where his serology test is pending.

MOH said that the man’s Ct value was very high, which is indicative of a low viral load.

“He could be shedding minute fragments of the virus RNA from a past infection which are no longer transmissible and infective to others, but given that we are not able to definitively conclude when he had been infected, we will take all the necessary public health actions as a precautionary measure,” said MOH.

A Filipina nurse who works at TTSH was the third case in the community on Wednesday. She had been fully vaccinated and tested positive for Covid-19 on April 27. 

Following the detection of the woman’s case, MOH said that TTSH locked down the affected ward and tested the patients and staff who had been in the ward.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has increased from nine in the week before to 13 in the past week, said MOH.

The number of cases with no known links in the community has also inched up from five in the week before to six in the past week.

IMPORTED CASES

There were 20 imported cases of Covid-19 registered on Wednesday and all had been placed on stay-home notices or isolated upon their arrival here, MOH said.

They are:

• Two Singaporeans and one permanent resident who returned from India and the United Arab Emirates

• One dependant’s pass holder who came from Nepal

• Five work pass holders who arrived from India, Japan, the Maldives, Nepal and Uzbekistan

• Six work permit holders who came from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Mexico and the Philippines — two of whom are foreign domestic workers

• Four short-term visit pass holders. Three had arrived from India to visit their family members here while the fourth had arrived from the Philippines for a work project

• One special pass holder — a seafarer who arrived from Indonesia on a vessel and was tested onboard without disembarking

UPDATE ON REMAINING CASES

The total number of infections in Singapore is now 61,086.

Of these, 60,718 people have fully recovered and been discharged, including 14 on Wednesday.

There are still 112 patients in hospitals. Of these, most are stable or improving, and none is in critical condition under intensive care, MOH said.

Another 226 patients are isolated at community facilities. They have mild symptoms or are clinically well but still tested positive for Covid-19.

Thirty people have died from complications due to the disease.