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The Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed 26 new cases of Covid-19 in Singapore on Saturday (Feb. 6).
This brings the total number of cases in Singapore to 59,675.
There are no new cases of locally-transmitted Covid-19 infection.
26 cases all imported
All 26 of the cases announced today are imported. They had been placed on SHN upon arrival in Singapore and were tested while serving SHN. Amongst the new cases today, 25 are asymptomatic while one was symptomatic.
Here is a breakdown of the imported cases:
- Two (Cases 60020 and 60021) are Singaporeans and six (Cases 59996, 60013, 60016, 60018, 60019 and 60022) are Singapore Permanent Residents who returned from Gabon, India, Malaysia, the UK and US.
- One (Case 60017) is a Dependant's Pass holder who arrived from India.
- One (Case 60009) is a Student's Pass holder who arrived from India.
- Two (Cases 59999 and 60015) are Work Pass holders who arrived from Germany and the UAE.
- Nine are Work Permit holders who arrived from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar, of whom 6 (Cases 59997, 59998, 60006, 60010, 60011, 60012) are foreign domestic workers.
- Five (Cases 60002, 60003, 60004, 60005 and 60014) are Short-Term Visit Pass holders. Cases 60002, 60004 and 60005 arrived from the Philippines and UAE for work projects in Singapore. Cases 60003 and 60014 arrived from India to visit their family members who are Singaporeans or Singapore Permanent Residents.
They had all already been placed on SHN upon arrival in Singapore and were tested while serving SHN.
Case 59996
Case 59996 is a 12-year-old female Singapore Permanent Resident who returned from India on Dec. 26, 2020 and served SHN at a dedicated facility upon arrival.
While serving SHN, she had been identified as a close contact of Case 59103, a family member who travelled with her, and was subsequently placed on quarantine until 9 January.
Her swab done on 8 January 2021 during quarantine was negative for COVID-19. She is asymptomatic, and was detected when she
took a Covid-19 pre-departure test on Feb. 4 in preparation for her return to India.
Her test result came back positive the next day, and she was conveyed to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
Case 60013
Case 60013 is a 20-year-old male Singapore Permanent Resident who returned from the UK, where he is studying, on Nov. 29, 2020, and served SHN at a dedicated facility until Dec. 13.
His swab done on Dec. 9 during SHN was negative for Covid-19. He is asymptomatic, and was detected when he took a COVID-19 pre-departure test on Feb. 4 in preparation for his trip back to the UK.
His test result came back positive the next day, and he was conveyed to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID).
Both cases had very high Ct value, which is indicative of a low viral load, and their serology test results have also come back positive.
Given that these indicate likely past infection, MOH has classified the cases as imported based on their travel history. The Ministry added that they are likely to be shedding minute fragments of the virus RNA, which are no longer transmissible and infective to others.
Likely re-infected Covid-19 case
MOH, in consultation with an expert panel, has detected the first case of likely Covid-19 re-infection in Singapore. He was identified from rostered monitoring testing conducted as part of MOH’s surveillance of recovered workers to monitor their post-infection immunity.
The case is a 28-year-old male Bangladesh national holding a Work Permit who resides in a dormitory located at 43 Tech Park Crescent.
He had been confirmed to have Covid-19 infection on Apr. 12, 2020 (Case 2513).
He subsequently recovered, and consistently tested negative for Covid-19 infection from Jun. 2020 onwards. On Jan. 25, 2021, however, his test result came back positive for Covid-19 infection, and he was isolated.
Numerous repeat tests conducted subsequently were also positive for the virus.
He reported that he felt unwell on Jan. 22 and Jan. 23, but is otherwise asymptomatic.
He is currently warded at NCID. All the identified close contacts of the case have been isolated and placed on quarantine. So far, all of them have tested negative for Covid-19.
While re-infection is rare, the expert panel, which comprises infectious diseases and microbiology experts from NCID, Singapore General Hospital and the National Public Health Laboratory, has assessed that the clinical and laboratory evidence suggests that this is a likely case of re-infection.
In addition to his positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test results, there was a corresponding marked increase in antibody titres compared to the period prior to the likely re-infection, suggesting that he was exposed to a new infection which boosted his antibody levels.
The virus detected in his samples taken in Jan. 2021 is also genetically distinct from that associated with the dormitories outbreak in 2020, suggesting that this is likely a different and new infection.
MOH will continue to closely monitor recovered Covid-19 cases to determine their post-infection immunity. So far, there is no indication that recovered workers in the dormitories have significant loss of post-infection immunity.
32 more cases discharged
32 more cases of Covid-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities.
In all, 59,405 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.
There are currently 39 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).
202 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.
No new locations visited by infectious cases
MOH regularly updates a list of public places visited by confirmed Covid-19 cases for more than 30 minutes when they were infectious.
No new locations were added to the list on Feb. 6.
Here is the full list of locations visited by cases in the community during their infectious period in the past 14 days, as of Feb. 6:
Top photo by Julia Yeo