[SINGAPORE] Only one new case in the community was reported in the past week and there were no unlinked ones.

This comes after there were 21 new cases in the community in the week before and six unlinked cases in the same time period.

Meanwhile, two of the Covid-19 cases announced on Thursday have tested preliminarily positive for the B117 strain of the coronavirus that is circulating in Britain.

They are among the 34 new coronavirus cases announced on Thursday noon (Jan 28) by the Ministry of Health (MOH).

The two new cases with the B117 strain of the virus are a work permit holder, 31, who had arrived from Bangladesh while a work pass holder, a 33-year-old man, had arrived from India.

Initially, the permit holder had tested negative for Covid-19 after he was swabbed on Jan 17 during his stay-home notice.

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On Jan 18, he was quarantined and isolated after he had been identified as a flight contact of another Covid-19 patient.

He was tested again on Tuesday( Jan 26 ) and confirmed positive for Covid-19. He has also tested preliminary positive for the B117 strain and is pending further confirmatory tests.

The other man who has tested preliminarily positive for the B117 strain is a software engineer at shipping company Pacific International Lines.

He was swabbed on Jan 7 during his stay-home notice and tested negative for Covid-19.

However, he developed nausea on Monday (Jan 25) and visited the doctor on Jan 26. He had a sore throat and intermittent cough.

On Wednesday (Jan 27), he confirmed positive for Covid-19.

MOH added that his serological test has come back positive which indicates a likely past infection. "Given their recent travel history, we have classified both cases as imported," said the ministry.

All identified close contacts of the case including their household members and co-workers have been isolated and quarantined.

They will be tested at the start and end of their quarantine period so the ministry can detect asymptomatic cases.

MOH added that all of the 34 cases announced on Thursday were imported and had been placed on stay-home notice on arrival in Singapore.

Three of the 34 new cases are Singaporeans and five are permanent residents.

There were also two dependant's pass holders, one long-term visit pass holder, four work pass holders, 16 work permit holders and three short-term visit pass holders.

Shrimp Prawn Seafood in Boat Quay, Amoy Street Food Centre and China Square Food Centre were added to the list of locations visited by infectious Covid-19 patients.

With 44 cases discharged on Thursday, 59,133 patients have fully recovered from the disease.

A total of 40 patients remain in hospital, while 208 are recuperating in community facilities. None is in intensive care.

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

THE STRAITS TIMES