Covid-19: Prelim test finds community case has more infectious UK strain; man works at Crowne Plaza Changi Airport

SINGAPORE — One of the two locally transmitted Covid-19 cases reported on Wednesday (Jan 6) here is a 24-year-old man who has preliminarily tested positive for the potentially more contagious B117 strain that was first discovered in the United Kingdom.

The South Korean work permit holder works at the Azur buffet restaurant at Crowne Plaza Changi Airport but does not interact with diners, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said.

The other case in the community is a 31-year-old Filipino man who is employed by the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) under a work permit but has not started work there yet.

In its Wednesday evening’s update on the coronavirus situation, MOH said that the Korean man’s infection was detected through a “pooled swab” during the fortnightly Rostered Routine Testing of workers on Jan 2. He was then tested again on Jan 4.

The man, whose job entails delivering pre-packed meals to air crew and hotel guests, started to develop acute respiratory infection symptoms on Jan 4.

His individual test result came back positive for Covid-19 on Jan 5 and he was taken to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.

The ministry added that the man’s serological test result has come back negative, indicating that this is “likely a current infection”.

“He has also tested preliminarily positive for the B117 strain and is pending further confirmatory tests,” MOH said.

For the Filipino, he arrived from the Philippines on Dec 4 and had served his stay-home notice at a dedicated facility until Dec 18.

The man’s pre-departure test taken in the Philippines on Dec 1 tested negative for Covid-19 and his test on Dec 14 during his stay-home notice came back negative as well.

“As part of his pre-employment health screening, he was tested for Covid-19 on Jan 5 even though he is asymptomatic, and his test came back positive,” MOh said.

“He was subsequently taken to SGH in an ambulance. His serological test result has come back positive, which indicates a likely past infection.”

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has gone up from two cases in the week before to 12 cases in the past week.

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

OTHER CASES REPORTED

For the 29 cases, they were:

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

• A dependant’s pass holder who arrived from India

• Five work pass holders who arrived from India, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates

• 16 work permit holders who arrived from India, Indonesia and Myanmar — of whom 12 are foreign domestic workers

• One special pass holder — a seafarer who arrived from China on board a vessel. He was swabbed upon arrival in Singapore

• Three short-term visit pass holders — two had arrived from Japan and the Philippines for work projects here while the third is here to visit her Singaporean spouse

MOH said that they had all been placed on stay-home notice or isolated upon their arrival and were tested while serving the notice or under isolation.

UPDATES ON REMAINING CASES

The total number of infections in Singapore is now 58,780.

Of these, 58,541 people have fully recovered and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities, including 24 on Wednesday.

There are still 64 patients in hospitals and most are in stable condition or improving, except for one who is in intensive care.

Another 146 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.