Foreign domestic worker of SIA cabin crew is sole community Covid-19 case; did not report cough symptoms during quarantine

SINGAPORE — The foreign domestic worker of a Singapore Airlines cabin crew member is the sole Covid-19 community case in Singapore on Wednesday (Feb 24), the Ministry of Health (MOH) said. The two people, along with the husband of the flight stewardess, have now formed a new Covid-19 cluster here. 

In its update of the coronavirus situation here, MOH said that the 35-year-old Indonesian worker was placed on quarantine on Feb 9 after she was identified as a close contact of her employer.

The swab test taken that day was negative for the coronavirus, as did her serology test for past infection, the ministry said.

The woman, however, developed a cough last Saturday but did not report it to MOH.

She was tested for the coronavirus again on Monday, and her test result came back positive the next day. She was then taken to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.

“Her serological test result has come back positive but this is likely to be a recent infection.

“She has also tested preliminarily positive for the B117 strain and is pending further confirmatory tests,” MOH said of the more contagious virus strain.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has gone down from six in the week before to two in the past week, the ministry added.

The number of cases with no known links in the community has also dropped from three in the week before to none in the past week.

IMPORTED CASES

There are six imported cases of Covid-19 confirmed on Wednesday and all had been placed on stay-home notices or isolated upon their arrival here.

They are:

• Two work pass holders who came from India and Japan

• A work permit holder who arrived from Indonesia and is a foreign domestic worker

• A student’s pass holder who arrived from India for studies here

• Two short-term visit pass holders. One of them came from Sri Lanka to visit his family member who works here, while the other is a seafarer who arrived from Malaysia on a vessel and was tested onboard without disembarking

UPDATE ON REMAINING CASES

The total number of infections in Singapore is now 59,890.

Of these, 59,761 people have fully recovered and been discharged, including eight on Wednesday.

There are still 18 patients in hospitals, including one who is in critical condition under intensive care.

Another 82 patients are isolated at community facilities. They have mild symptoms or are clinically well but still tested positive for Covid-19.

Twenty-nine people have died from complications due to the disease.