New local Covid-19 cluster; 8-year-old boy added to para-vet cluster

[SINGAPORE] The wife and housemate of a 33-year-old Chinese man who tested positive for the Covid-19 infection on Jan 16 have also tested positive for the infection, forming a new local cluster, according to the Ministry of Health (MOH) in a statement on Tuesday night (Jan 19).

The two Chinese nationals are work permit holders who were identified as close contacts and put on quarantine on Jan 15. Both subsequently tested positive for the infection on Jan 17 during their quarantine periods.

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 man is 31 and is a co-worker of the previous case at Golden Bridge Foods Manufacturing in Senoko.

Both were asymptomatic when tested and have had their serological tests come back negative, indicating a likely current infection. "Two of the newly confirmed cases (Cases 59419 and 59420) are linked to one previous case (Case 59343) to form the Case 59343 cluster," said MOH in their statement.

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 up to seven.

He is an eight-year-old boy who is the son of the administrative officer and his wife previously tested positive for the infection. The boy is a student at Chua Chu Kang Primary School, and had last gone to school on Jan 15. 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.

MOH says that this means there is therefore no risk of transmission to the students he had contact with previously.

However the boy subsequently developed a fever on Jan 17 while he was in quarantine, and was tested again at KK Women's and Children's Hospital. This time, his test came back positive for the virus. His serological test result has come back negative, indicating that this is likely a current infection.

The final community case reported today is currently unlinked.

He is a 39-year-old permanent resident who works as a sales personnel at BS Industrial & Construction Supply Pte Ltd in Kallang.

He developed a fever on Jan 16, and went to a polyclinic two days later, where he was tested for the virus.

His test result came back positive for Covid-19 infection on the same day, and he was sent to hospital in an ambulance. His serological test result has come back negative, indicating that this is likely a current infection.

Along with these four community cases, there were also 26 imported cases for a total of 30, bringing Singapore's total up to 59,157.

The 26 cases 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.

The Singaporeans and permanent residents arrived from Indonesia, Ireland, Myanmar and the United Kingdom. The two student pass holders came from Bulgaria and Malaysia, while the one work pass holder travelled from the United Arab Emirates. The 16 work permit holders came from Bangladesh, India and Indonesia.

The number of cases in the community has increased from six cases in the week before to 14 cases in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also increased from four cases in the week before to five cases in the past week.

With 26 cases discharged on Tuesday, 58,879 patients have fully recovered from the disease.

A total of 45 patients remain in hospital, with none in intensive care, while 189 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