22-year-old construction worker at Bedok dorm is sole dormitory case

[SINGAPORE] A 22-year-old Bangladesh construction worker is the sole case from migrant worker dormitories reported on Wednesday (Feb 10).

There were also 14 imported cases confirmed by the Ministry of Health (MOH), taking Singapore's total to 59,747.

The construction worker's earlier tests from Rostered Routine Testing (RRT) - the last being on 24 January - were negative for the infection, said MOH. "His serology test result has come back positive but we are unable to rule out that this could be a recent infection," said MOH.

A positive serology test indicates a possible past infection."As a precautionary measure, all his close contacts at the dormitory and his workplace have been placed on quarantine." The patient, who resides in a dormitory at Bedok South Road, is asymptomatic.

He was detected when he was tested on Sunday as part of RRT, said MOH.

His pooled test result came back positive for Covid-19 on Monday, and he was immediately isolated.

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An individual test was done on Tuesday, and his test result came back positive for the infection on the same day.

He was subsequently conveyed in an ambulance to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.

The 14 imported cases comprised one Singaporean, two permanent residents, one dependant's pass holder, two work pass holders, six work permit holders and two short-term visit pass holders.

They tested positive while serving stay-home notices, said MOH.

They came from several countries including India, Brazil and Myanmar.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community increased from three cases in the week before to four cases in the past week.

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

With 20 cases discharged on Wednesday, 59,511 patients have fully recovered from the disease.

A total of 36 patients remain in hospital, including one in the intensive care unit, while 156 are recuperating in community facilities.

Singapore has had 29 deaths from Covid-19 complications, while 15 who tested positive have died of other causes.

THE STRAITS TIMES