The Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed 27 new cases of Covid-19 in Singapore on Wednesday (Dec. 30).

This brings the total number of cases in Singapore to 58,569.

Breakdown of cases

Community: 1 case

There is one unlinked case in the community.

Case 58810 is a Singapore Permanent Resident (PR) who works as a Marine Surveyor at Lloyd's Register Singapore.

His work entails working onboard vessels docked at Sembcorp Marine Admiralty Yard.

He developed acute respiratory infection (ARI) symptoms on Dec. 27, and sought treatment at a general practitioner clinic on Dec. 28 where he was tested for Covid-19 as part of MOH's enhanced community testing.

He was confirmed to have Covid-19 infection the next day and was conveyed in an ambulance to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID).

His serological test results have come back negative, indicating that this is likely a current infection.

He had not gone to work since onset of symptoms. His earlier tests from Rostered Routine Testing (RRT) — the last being on Dec. 14 — had been negative for Covid-19 infection.

Epidemiological investigations are ongoing, said MOH.

In the meantime, all his identified close contacts, including his family members, have been isolated and placed on quarantine, and will be tested at the start and end of their quarantine period.

Serological tests for the close contacts will also be conducted to determine if the case could have been infected by them.

Imported: 26 cases

Amongst the 26 imported cases, three are Singaporeans and four are Singapore Permanent Residents (PRs) who returned from India, Indonesia, Portugal, UK, U.S. and Switzerland.

In addition, there are five Work Pass holders who arrived from the Philippines, India and UK.

Another seven are Work Permit holders who arrived from Indonesia, Myanmar and Indonesia, of whom six are foreign domestic workers.

Another three are Dependant’s Pass holders who arrived from India.

There is also one Student’s Pass holder who arrived from Indonesia, one Long-Term Visit Pass holder who arrived from India and one Short-Term Visit Pass holder who arrived from Indonesia to visit her Singaporean spouse.

The remaining case is a Special Pass holder who is a crew member of a ship which arrived from Indonesia.

He had not disembarked from the ship until he was conveyed to a hospital following a swab onboard.

Amongst the 26 imported cases, 25 had been placed on Stay-Home Notice or isolated upon arrival in Singapore.

The remaining imported case (Case 58811) is a pilot with Singapore Airlines (SIA).

Two cases preliminarily test positive for B117

Case 58811

Case 58811 had travelled to the UK for work from Dec. 19 to Dec. 22.

He was tested on Dec. 23 as part of RRT for air crew who travel frequently, and his test came back negative.

On Dec. 26, he developed a fever, and sought medical treatment at a general practitioner clinic the next day, where he was swabbed.

His test came back positive for Covid-19 infection on Dec. 29 and he was conveyed to NCID in an ambulance.

His serological test result has come back negative, indicating a likely current infection.

He has also tested preliminarily positive for the B117 strain, a potentially more contagious strain of the Covid-19 virus that is circulating in the UK.

Further tests will be conducted to confirm the strain.

Case 58809

Case 58809 is a Work Pass holder who arrived from the UK on Dec. 7, and was placed on SHN at a dedicated facility upon arrival in Singapore.

He was tested on Dec. 17 and his test result was negative for Covid-19.

He ended his SHN on Dec. 21, but started to develop body ache on Dec. 22 and ARI symptoms on Dec. 25.

He sought medical treatment on Dec. 28 and was swabbed for Covid-19.

His test result came back positive on Dec. 29 and he was conveyed to NCID in an ambulance.

His serological test result has come back positive.

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

11 cases discharged

11 more cases of Covid-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities.

In all, 58,411 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.

There are currently 52 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and none are in the intensive care unit.

77 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.

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

11 new locations

MOH regularly updates a list of public places visited by confirmed Covid-19 cases for more than 30 minutes when they were infectious.

11 new locations were added to the list on Dec. 30.

Here's the complete list of locations visited by cases in the community during their infectious period:

Top image by Joshua Lee.