SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Saturday (Dec 26) it is probing another Covid-19 patient who had served part of his stay-home notice (SHN) at Mandarin Orchard Singapore hotel for possible links to earlier cases at the hotel.

This makes it a second day in a row that a fresh Covid-19 infection was found among someone who had served SHN at the hotel.

MOH had first announced on Dec 19 that it had found that 13 imported cases, who were confirmed between Nov 2 and 11 to have Covid-19, had high genetic similarity, suggesting that these cases were likely infected from a similar source.

They had all served SHN at the hotel.

In all, there were 10 new cases of Covid-19 infections on Saturday, all of which were imported.

All 10 had been placed on stay-home notices or isolated upon arrival in Singapore, said MOH in a press release.

There were no new cases of locally transmitted coronavirus infection.

All the new cases on Saturday are asymptomatic, and were detected from the authorities’ “proactive screening and surveillance”.

LATEST CASE AT MANDARIN ORCHARD

MOH said in a press statement on Saturday evening that the 10 included a 37-year-old Short-Term Visit Pass holder who had served SHN at Mandarin Orchard Singapore before he was transferred to another dedicated facility on Dec 20 when the ministry commenced investigations into the 13 previously reported cases.

The Lebanese man, who had arrived from Qatar and is a relative of a Singaporean, was swabbed on Dec 19 and Dec 21 and his test results were negative for Covid-19 infection. 

His swab on Dec 24 at the end of SHN came back positive, and his serological test result is negative, said MOH. 

“Investigations are ongoing to assess if he could be linked to the 13 cases,” it added.

On Friday, it had said that a Singapore permanent resident, 47, who arrived from the Philippines and began serving his SHN at the hotel on Dec 10, had tested positive on Dec 24. 

MOH was also probing whether his infection was linked to the earlier 13 cases.

OTHER IMPORTED CASES

Among the 10 imported cases on Saturday, two are Singaporeans who returned from the United Kingdom. 

Another two are Work Permit holders who arrived from Bangladesh and India. 

In addition, there are three Dependant’s Pass holders who arrived from India. 

The remaining cases are Short-Term Visit Pass holders. 

UPDATE ON CONFIRMED CASES

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has remained low, with a total of one case in the past week who is currently unlinked. 

The total number of Covid-19 cases in Singapore now stands at 58,519.

In all, 58,362 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities, including 10 on Saturday.

“There are currently 37 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and none is in the intensive care unit,” said MOH. 

Another 91 are isolated and cared for at community facilities. These are those who have mild symptoms, or are clinically well but still test positive for Covid-19. 

To date, 29 have passed away from complications due to Covid-19 infection.