The Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed 23 new cases of Covid-19 infection earlier on Friday (Jan. 8).

This brings the total number of cases to 58,836.

Two locally-transmitted cases

There are two cases in the community, both of which are linked to previously reported cases.

Case 59079

Case 59079 is a 34 year-old Singaporean who works as a Harbour Pilot at PSA Marine Pte Ltd (70 West Coast Ferry Road).

His work entails going onboard vessels to navigate them through congested waters.

His earlier tests from Rostered Routine Testing (RRT) – the last being on Dec. 28, 2020 – were negative for Covid-19 infection.

He had been identified as a close contact of Case 58817, also a Singaporean who works as a Harbour Pilot, and was placed on quarantine on Jan. 1, 2021 at a quarantine facility.

His swab done on Jan. 3 tested negative. Another test taken on Jan. 7 came back positive for Covid-19 infection and he was conveyed to Tan Tock Seng Hospital in an ambulance.

He developed onset of symptoms on Jan. 8. His serological test result is pending.

Case 59084

Case 59084 is a 20-year-old male Singaporean who works at Azur at Crowne Plaza Changi Airport (75 Airport Boulevard). His job entails delivering pre-packed meals to air crew and hotel guests.

He does not interact with diners at Azur. His earlier tests from RRT – the last being on Jan. 1, 2021 – were negative for Covid-19 infection.

He had been identified as a close contact of Case 59028, a Work Permit holder who works at Azur at Crowne Plaza Changi Airport, and was placed on quarantine on Jan. 5 at a quarantine facility.

He developed acute respiratory infection (ARI) symptoms on Jan. 7 and was swabbed on the same day.

His test came back positive for Covid-19 infection and he was conveyed to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases in an ambulance.

His 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.

Epidemiological investigations are ongoing.

In the meantime, all the identified close contacts of the cases, including their family members and co-workers, have been isolated and placed on quarantine.

They will be tested at the start and end of their quarantine period in order to detect asymptomatic cases.

MOH will also conduct serological tests for the close contacts to determine if the case could have been infected by them.

Investigations into cases at Crowne Plaza Changi Airport

MOH is investigating three Covid-19 cases working at Crowne Plaza Changi Airport.

From preliminary investigations, the ministry said that it cannot exclude that transmissions could have occurred at the hotel.

As a precautionary measure, Crowne Plaza Changi Airport will be closed for 14 days from Jan. 8 to Jan. 21, including its restaurant and event spaces.

MOH has commenced a special testing operations to test 234 staff working at Crowne Plaza Changi Airport for Covid-19 infection.

So far, 233 hotel staff have been swabbed. Of these, 129 test results have been processed, and all of them have come back negative for Covid-19 infection. 104 test results are pending.

MOH is facilitating testing for the remaining staff.

21 imported cases

21 of the cases reported on Jan. 8 are imported.

Four (Cases 59072, 59073,59074 and 59091) are Singaporeans and four (Cases 59075, 59080, 59081 and 59090) are Permanent Residents who returned from India, Indonesia, and the UAE.

One is a Dependant's Pass holder who arrived from the UAE.

Another is a Student's Pass holder arriving from India.

Two cases (Cases 59070 and 59087) are Work Pass holders who arrived from India.

Eight are Work Permit holders arriving from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, and Malaysia, of which four (Cases 59078, 59093, 59094 and 59095) are foreign domestic workers.

One case (Case 59083) is a Short-Term Visit Pass holder arriving from India to visit her spouse, who is a Singapore PR.

All of them have already been placed on Stay Home Notice upon their arrival in Singapore, and were tested while they were serving their SHN.

Public locations

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

Two new locations were added to the list on Jan. 8:

• Tampines Mall (4 Tampines Central 5)
• Tampines 1 (10 Tampines Central 1)

Here is the full list of locations visited by cases in the community during their infectious period in the past 14 days, as of Jan. 8:

61 remain in hospitals

18 more cases of Covid-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 58,580 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.

There are currently 61 confirmed cases who are still in the hospital, most of whom are stable or improving.

One is in critical condition in the intensive care unit (ICU).

166 cases who have mild symptoms or who are clinically well but still test positive for Covid-19 are isolated and cared for at community facilities.

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

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