Restaurant at ITE College Central & Junction 8 among new locations visited by Covid-19 cases

19 new cases today (March 4).

Syahindah Ishak | March 04, 2021, 10:23 PM

The Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed 19 new cases of Covid-19 in Singapore on Thursday, March 4.

This brings the total number of cases in Singapore to 59,998.

One community case

There is one new locally-transmitted case in the community.

Case 60626

Case 60626 is an 81 year-old female Singaporean who is a retiree and the spouse of Case 60588.

She developed fever and chills on Feb. 27 but did not seek medical attention, and recovered on the same day.

However, Case 60626 received her first dose of Covid-19 vaccine on Feb. 26, and these symptoms might also have been due to the vaccination, said MOH.

As she had been identified as a close contact of Case 60588, she was placed on quarantine on March 2, and was tested for Covid-19 as part of MOH's protocol to test individuals during quarantine.

Her test result came back positive for Covid-19 infection the next day, and she was conveyed in an ambulance to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID).

Her serological test result has come back negative, indicating that this is likely a current infection.

Could not have been infected due to vaccination

As the vaccine does not contain live virus, Case 60626 could not have been infected due to vaccination.

MOH explained that it is possible for one to be infected just before or just after vaccination as it typically takes a few weeks for an individual to build up immunity after completing vaccination.

Epidemiological investigations are ongoing.

In the meantime, all the identified close contacts of the case, including her family members, have been isolated and placed on quarantine, and will be tested at the start and end of their quarantine period so that MOH can detect asymptomatic cases.

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

18 imported cases

The remaining 18 cases announced today (March 4) are imported. They were all placed on Stay-Home Notice or isolated upon arrival in Singapore.

Among the 18 imported cases, three are Singaporeans and one is a Singapore Permanent Resident.

Another case is a Work Pass holder who arrived from Malaysia.

11 cases are Work Permit holders who arrived from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, of whom five are foreign domestic workers.

Another case is a Student's Pass holder who arrived from the US for studies in Singapore.

The last case is a Short-Term Visit Pass holder who arrived from Indonesia to visit her Singaporean relative.

Eight cases discharged

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

In all, 59,857 have fully recovered from Covid-19 infection, and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.

There are currently 24 confirmed cases who are still in the hospital, most of whom are stable or improving, with one case in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

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

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

Five 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.

Five new locations were added to the list on March 4:

  1. First Culinary Restaurant at ITE College Central
  2. Junction 8
  3. Cheng San Community Club
  4. 724 Ang Mo Kio Market
  5. Teck Ghee Community Club

As of March 4, there are 11 locations on the list of locations visited by cases in the community during their infectious period in the past 14 days:

Top images from First Culinary Restaurant/FB & Junction 8/FB.