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The Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed 34 new cases of Covid-19 in Singapore on Friday (Apr. 16).

This brings the total number of cases to 60,769.

First community case tested positive as he was about to leave Singapore

There are two cases of locally-transmitted Covid-19 infection, both of which are unlinked cases in the community.

The first man, Case 61,988 is a 44-year-old male Indonesian who is a Short-Term Visit Pass holder.

He arrived from Indonesia on Feb. 28, as a caregiver to his father who was already receiving medical care in Singapore, and had returned for further treatment for a condition that is unrelated to Covid-19.

He tested negative for Covid-19 during his pre-departure test in Indonesia on Feb. 26, and during his arrival test in Singapore on Mar. 1.

The man served Stay-Home Notice (SHN) at a dedicated facility until Mar. 14, and his test on Mar. 13 during SHN also showed a negative result.

According to MOH, he is asymptomatic, and the infection was only detected when he took a Covid-19 pre-departure test on Apr. 14, in preparation for his return to Indonesia.

His test result came back positive on the same day, and he was conveyed in an ambulance to a hospital.

His serology test result is pending.

Second community case worked at NUS

The second man, Case 61,993, is a 34-year-old male Indian national who is a Work Pass holder.

According to MOH, he is a senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore (NUS), but had only gone to work for one day on Apr. 12, when he had an onset of symptoms in the evening while at work.

The man had travelled to India from Dec. 28, 2020, to Mar. 21, 2021, and had served SHN at a dedicated facility upon his return to Singapore.

His pre-departure test done in India on Mar. 19 was negative for Covid-19, and he tested negative again for his on-arrival swab in Singapore on Mar. 21.

While he was serving SHN, he was identified as a close contact of Case 61,141 during their flight to Singapore, and was placed on quarantine at a dedicated facility from Mar. 24 to Apr. 11.

He was tested for Covid-19 on Mar. 25, Apr. 3 and Apr. 10, and tested negative on all three occasions.

On Apr. 12, when he was at work, he developed fatigue in the evening, and a sore throat and body aches on Apr. 13, followed by a fever on Apr. 14.

According to MOH, he stayed at home from Apr. 13, and only left his residence to seek medical treatment at a polyclinic on Apr. 14, where he was tested for Covid-19.

His test result came back positive the next day, and he was conveyed to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) in an ambulance.

The man's serology result has come back negative, indicating that this is a current infection.

MOH said that epidemiological investigations are ongoing, and all 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, in order to determine if the cases could have been infected by them.

32 imported cases

Among the 32 imported cases, three (Cases 61,990, 62,015 and 62,019) are Singaporeans, and six (Cases 61,992, 61,998, 62,012, 62,020, 62,021 and 62,022) are Singapore Permanent Residents (PRs), who returned from India, Myanmar and the Philippines.

Four (Cases 61,997, 62,001, 62,029 and 62,030) are Dependant's Pass holders who arrived from India and the Netherlands.

There is one Long-Term Visit pass holder (Case 61,991) who arrived from India.

16 are Work Permit holders who arrived from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Myanmar, of whom two (Cases 62,003 and 62,018) are foreign domestic workers.

The last two cases are Short-Term Visit Pass holders. Case 61,979 arrived from France for a work project in Singapore, while Case 61,987 arrived from India to visit his family member who is a Singaporean.

All of the above cases had been placed on SHN or isolated upon arrival in Singapore, and were tested while serving SHN or during isolation.

29 cases discharged

29 more cases have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities.

In all, 60,446 have fully recovered from the infection, and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.

There are currently 51 confirmed cases still in the hospital, with two cases in the intensive care unit (ICU).

242 cases are isolated and cared for at community facilities.

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

Two new locations

MOH regularly updates a list of public places visited by confirmed cases for more than 30 minutes during their infectious period.

There are two new locations visited by confirmed Covid-19 cases:

• Chinatown Point (133 New Bridge Road)

  • Apr. 3, 2:25 pm to 4:15 pm

• National University of Singapore Information Technology (2 Engineering Drive 4), Techno Edge Canteen

  • Apr. 12, 12:30pm to 1pm

This is the latest list of locations visited by confirmed cases within the last two weeks.

Those who had been identified as close contacts of confirmed cases would already have been notified by MOH.

As a precautionary measure, those who had been at these locations during the specified timings should monitor their health closely for 14 days from their date of visit.

They should see a doctor promptly if they develop symptoms of acute respiratory infection (such as cough, sore throat and runny nose), as well as fever and loss of taste or smell, and inform the doctor of their exposure history.

MOH has also said that there is no need to avoid places where confirmed cases of Covid-19 have been. The National Environment Agency will engage the management of affected premises to provide guidance on cleaning and disinfection.

Top image via Google Maps/Zihan Pan.