Singapore's Covid-19 case count passes 60,000

[SINGAPORE] More than 60,000 coronavirus cases have now been recorded in Singapore after another nine were confirmed at noon on Friday (March 5).

The newly-discovered infections - which take the Republic's confirmed case count to 60,007 since the start of the pandemic - were all imported, said the Ministry of Health (MOH).

It said the patients been placed on stay-home notices on arrival in Singapore.

A woman aged 81 was the sole case in the community announced on Thursday. The Singaporean is the wife of the 82-year-old retiree reported to have Covid-19 the day before.

She was placed in quarantine last Tuesday as a close contact of her husband. The next day her test result came back positive for Covid-19, and she was taken by ambulance to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.

The woman's serological test result was negative, indicating that this is probably a current infection.

She had previously developed a fever and chills on Feb 27, possibly due to a benign reaction to having the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine a day earlier. She did not seek medical attention and recovered within 24 hours, said the MOH.

As the vaccine does not contain live virus, she could not have been infected by it, said the ministry. "It is possible for one to be infected just before or just after vaccination as it typically takes a few weeks for an individual to build up immunity after completing vaccination," it added.

Eighteen new imported cases were also confirmed on Thursday.

The patients tested positive while serving stay-home notices after arrivingfrom several countries including Ghana, India and Bangladesh, said the MOH. With eight patients discharged on Thursday, 59,842 have fully recovered.

A total of 24 patients remained in hospital, including one in a critical condition in intensive care, while 88 were recuperating in community facilities.

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

Globally, the pandemic has infected more than 115 million people since it began in December 2019. More than 2.5 million have died.

THE STRAITS TIMES