On Dec. 28, a Singapore Airlines (SIA) crew member was one of the confirmed Covid-19 cases announced by the Ministry of Health (MOH).

The man, who also worked part-time as a Grab driver from Dec. 17 to 24, had returned from the U.S. on Dec. 16.

Now, MOH is conducting contact tracing to identify his passengers, according to The Straits Times.

Man travelled to the U.S. from Dec. 13 to 16

MOH previously announced that the man travelled to the U.S. for work from Dec. 13 to 16, on a controlled itinerary.

Airline crew are exempt from serving stay-home notice (SHN), as long as precautions are taken to minimise their risk of exposure to the virus.

He was asymptomatic, and was detected through proactive testing arranged by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS).

He was tested on Dec. 23, but his test result came back inconclusive on Dec. 25, necessitating another test.

A second test conducted on Dec. 25 was also inconclusive, and the man had remained at home while awaiting further tests, according to MOH.

The man's swab test returned a positive result on Dec. 27, and he was conveyed by ambulance to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) on the same day.

Close contacts have to be quarantined

On Dec. 29, Grab announced that the man had been temporarily suspended from its platform, as part of its safety precaution measures.

"We are in close contact with the MOH and are currently providing all necessary information to support the ministry's contact tracing efforts," said Grab.

According to the ST report, MOH has announced that any passengers deemed to be close contacts of the man will have to be quarantined.

Although the risk of transmission is generally assessed to be low on public transport, such as buses and trains, drivers and passengers are in close proximity to each other in private hire cars and taxis.

As a result, passengers who are assessed to be close contacts of a confirmed case will quarantined as a precautionary measure.

Top image via Singapore Airlines and Grab.