17 new Covid-19 cases in Singapore, eight are linked to TTSH cluster

[SINGAPORE] Eight more Covid-19 cases have been linked to the Tan Tock Seng Hospital cluster, including five patients from Ward 9D, where the first case in the cluster was picked up.

All eight had initially tested negative for the virus, and were picked up in subsequent rounds of testing, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Monday.

The remaining two cases in the community announced on Monday, which included a three-year-old boy, are linked to the Immigration and Checkpoints (ICA) officer cluster.

TTSH CLUSTER

The five patients warded in TTSH Ward 9D, all Singaporeans aged between 53 and 90, were transferred to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) for isolation on April 28.

- Case 62786 is an 82 year-old woman who had been warded from April 21. She tested negative for Covid-19 on April 28 and May 1. On Sunday, she was tested again even though she is asymptomatic, and her test result came back positive, MOH said. Her serology test result is negative.

A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU

Friday, 8.30 am

Asean Business

Business insights centering on South-east Asia's fast-growing economies.

Sign Up

- Case 62787 is a 94 year-old woman who had been warded from April 9. She tested negative for Covid-19 on April 28. On Sunday, she developed a cough and then tested positive for the virus. Her serology test result is negative.

- Case 62791 is a 70 year-old man who had been warded from April 21. He tested negative for Covid-19 on April 30. On Sunday, he was tested again even though he is asymptomatic, and his test result came back positive, MOH said. His serology test result is negative.

- Case 62794 is a 53 year-old woman who had been warded from April 26. She tested negative for Covid-19 on April 28 and April 30. She developed a cough on May 1, and was swabbed the next day. Her test result came back positive for Covid-19 infection. Later on the same day, she developed a fever and runny nose, MOH said. Her serology test result is negative.

- Case 62795 is a 79 year-old man who had been warded from April 22. He tested negative for Covid-19 on April 28. On Sunday, he was tested again for Covid-19 even though he is asymptomatic, and his result came back positive the next day, said MOH. His serology test result is negative. A nurse in the TTSH emergency department was among three staff working at TTSH who tested positive for Covid-19.

- Case 62781 is a 22 year-old Malaysian national employed by UEMS Solutions and who works as a porter at TTSH. She was tested for Covid-19 on April 28 and her result was negative. She developed a sore throat on April 29 but did not seek medical treatment, and subsequently a fever and body aches on May 1, said MOH. On Sunday, she sought treatment at TTSH emergency department and her test result came back positive for Covid-19. Her serology test result is negative.

- Case 62784 is a 25 year-old Singaporean nurse at TTSH emergency department. She tested negative for Covid-19 on April 30. She developed a fever and sore throat on Sunday, and sought treatment at TTSH emergency department, said MOH. Her test result came back positive on the same day. Her serology test result is pending.

- Case 62790 is a 26 year-old Vietnamese nurse at TTSH Ward 9D. She was tested for Covid-19 on April 28 and her result was negative. She was placed on quarantine on April 29 and conveyed to a dedicated facility the next day. On Sunday, she was tested again for Covid-19 even though she is asymptomatic, and this time her test came back positive.

“Her serology test result was negative for the N antigen, which suggests the presence of early infection,” said MOH. She had previously received her first dose of Covid-19 vaccine on Jan 18 and the second dose on Feb 8.

ICA OFFICER CLUSTER

The remaining two cases are close contacts of the 38-year-old ICA officer who had been placed on quarantine on April 27. Case 62779 is a 37-year-old homemaker married to a family member of the ICA officer.

Case 62780 is their three-year-old son. They initially tested negative for Covid-19 on April 28. On May 1, they were tested again even though they were asymptomatic and their test result came back positive for the infection on the next day. Case 62779’s serology test result is negative and Case 62780’s is pending.

IMPORTED CASES

There were also seven imported cases who had been placed on stay-home notices on arrival in Singapore. This takes Singapore’s total number of infected to 61,235.

The number of new cases in the community increased from 10 in the week before to 60 cases in the past week.

The number of unlinked cases in the community has also increased from four cases in the week before to 10 cases in the past week.

With 20 cases discharged on Monday, 60,791 patients have fully recovered from the disease. A total of 131 patients remain in hospital, with none in intensive care, while 267 are recuperating in community facilities.

Singapore now has 31 deaths from Covid-19 complications, while 15 who tested positive have died of other causes.

THE STRAITS TIMES