SINGAPORE — The one Covid-19 case in the community reported by the authorities on Monday (Nov 30) is a 35-year-old Nepali man here to visit his family members who are Singaporeans.

In its evening update of the coronavirus situation, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said that the infection was detected when he went for a Covid-19 pre-departure test on Nov 28 before a scheduled trip to the United States. He was holding a short-term visit pass while in Singapore.

The man was taken to the hospital on Nov 29 when his test result was positive. He did not have any symptoms and has no links to confirmed cases.

MOH said that the man’s serological test result was also positive, which “indicates likely past infection”.

He had arrived in Singapore from Nepal on Nov 1 and was placed on a 14-day stay-home notice at a dedicated facility upon his arrival until Nov 15.

He tested negative for the coronavirus on Nov 11 while serving his notice.

After that, he stayed at a friend’s flat at Bishan Street 22 and visited his family staying at Yishun Avenue 6, MOH said.

The ministry added that all the identified close contacts of the man have been isolated and placed on quarantine.

They will be tested at the start and end of their quarantine period so that MOH can detect asymptomatic cases.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has remained low, with a total of four cases in the past week who have no known links to other infections so far.

OTHER CASES WITH NO SYMPTOMS

The Nepali man is among five new Covid-19 cases announced by MOH on Monday.

The remaining four are imported: A Singaporean man who returned from Japan and three work permit holders who recently travelled to Indonesia and India.

All four have no symptoms and were all placed on stay-home notices upon their arrival here.

Separately, community testing operations were carried out by MOH on Nov 27 and 28 for people working at the Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre.

There were no infections detected from the 1,068 people who were tested.

MOH had said before that the testing operations enabled it to “contain cryptic cases in the community early and prevent further transmission” of the coronavirus.

UPDATES ON REMAINING CASES

The total number of infections in Singapore now stands at 58,218.

Of these, 58,134 people have fully recovered and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities, including 10 on Monday.

There are still 29 patients in hospitals and most are in stable condition or improving. No one is in intensive care.

Another 26 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.