40 new Covid-19 cases in Singapore, including four in the community

[SINGAPORE] There were 40 new coronavirus cases confirmed as at Wednesday noon (Jan 20), taking Singapore's total to 59,197.

They included 36 imported cases who had been placed on stay-home notices on arrival in Singapore, said the Ministry of Health (MOH).

There were four community cases and none from worker's dormitories.

On Tuesday, the wife and the housemate of a 33-year-old Chinese national who tested positive for Covid-19 on Jan 16 have also tested positive for the infection, forming a new local cluster.

The two Chinese nationals are work permit holders who were identified as close contacts and put on quarantine on Jan 15. Both tested positive on Jan 17.

The woman is 48 years old and is employed as a food processing worker at Soon Lee Heng Satay Foodstuff Manufacturer located in Woodlands Loop, while the housemate - a 31-year-old man - is a co-worker of the previous case at Golden Bridge Foods Manufacturing in Senoko.

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The announcement of this new cluster follows the warning on Monday by multi-ministry task force co-chair Lawrence Wong that additional measures may be necessary as community cases inch up in Singapore. Mr Wong is also the Education Minister.

This is the second local cluster that has been discovered in recent weeks.

MOH also reported that another case has been linked to the para-vet cluster, bringing the number of cases to seven.

The latest case linked is an eight-year-old boy who is the son of an administrative officer and his wife who previously tested positive for the infection. The boy is a pupil at Chua Chu Kang Primary School, and last went to school last Friday. He was identified as a close contact of the couple and quarantined the next day.

He was swabbed on the same day and his result came back negative for Covid-19. However, the boy subsequently developed a fever on Sunday while in quarantine, and tested positive for the virus.

The final community case reported yesterday is currently unlinked. He is a 39-year-old permanent resident who works in sales at BS Industrial & Construction Supply in Kallang.

Along with these four community cases, there were also 26 imported cases.

They comprised four Singaporeans, three permanent residents, two student's pass holders, one work pass holder and 16 work permit holders, of whom three are foreign domestic workers.

Globally, the virus outbreak, which began in December 2019, has infected more than 95.5 million people. More than 2 million people have died.

THE STRAITS TIMES