10 new COVID cases in Singapore, including one in community
SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed 10 new cases of COVID-19 in Singapore on Monday (22 February), taking the country's total case count to 59,879.
One of them is a locally transmitted COVID-19 infection in the community, while the remaining nine are imported.
"Amongst the new cases today, nine are asymptomatic, and were detected from our proactive screening and surveillance, while one was symptomatic," said the MOH.
The sole community case on Monday is linked to his wife, a 41-year-old Singaporean woman who works as a cabin crew with Singapore Airlines and was confirmed to have COVID-19 on 9 February.
The 43-year-old Singaporean man works as an event planner but has not been at work since 1 February.
He had been identified as a close contact of his wife and was placed on quarantine on 9 February. The man's swab taken on 9 February was negative for COVID-19.
He developed anosmia on 15 February during quarantine but did not report his symptom.
On 20 February, he developed a fever and self-medicated, again without informing MOH of his symptoms. The next day, he was tested for COVID-19 as part of the MOH's protocol to test individuals during quarantine.
His test came back positive for COVID-19 on the same day and he was conveyed in an ambulance to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.
"His serological test result has come back negative, indicating that this is likely a current infection. He has been tested for the B117 strain, and the result is pending," said the MOH.
The ministry also stressed that Individuals on quarantine or the stay-home notice are required to declare any symptoms promptly, and to report their health status to MOH every day.
"They are provided with a list of COVID-19 symptoms to look out for, as well as reporting instructions, at the start of their isolation period. We remind these individuals to be socially responsible and to report their symptoms promptly, even if these are early or mild," it added.
The ministry also noted that the number of new cases in the community has decreased from five in the week before to two cases in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also decreased from two cases in the week before to one in the past week.
9 imported cases, including a one-year-old boy
Amongst the imported cases, two are Singaporeans who returned from Indonesia and the UK. Three others are dependant’s pass holders – including a one-year-old baby boy and a six-year-old boy – who arrived from India, Indonesia, and the US.
One is a work pass holder who arrived from the Philippines. The remaining three cases are work permit holders who arrived from Indonesia and Myanmar, of whom one is a foreign domestic worker.
All were placed on the stay-home notice upon their arrival in Singapore and were tested while serving their notice.
On Sunday, the ministry said it is investigating a Malaysian truck driver who works as a freelance deliveryman and was denied entry into Singapore on 18 February after testing positive for COVID-19 for an antigen rapid test (ART) at Woodlands Checkpoint.
"Our investigations found that he had visited Resorts World Sentosa Casino on 9 February before departing for Malaysia on the same day. While he is not included in the case count as he had not been allowed entry into Singapore after his positive ART test, we will take all the necessary public health actions as a precautionary measure, including placing all identified close contacts on quarantine," said the MOH.
The ministry added that Malaysian truck drivers are not allowed to mingle in the community other than for delivery purposes and are not to stay overnight. "Investigations are ongoing to assess if there had been any breach of the relevant prevailing measures," it said.
99% of total cases have recovered, 1 in ICU
With 15 more patients discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities on Monday, 59,746 cases – or 99.8 per cent of the total – have fully recovered from the infection.
Most of the 19 hospitalised cases are stable or improving, and one is in the intensive care unit.
A total of 85 patients – with mild symptoms or are clinically well but still test positive – are isolated and cared for at community facilities.
Apart from 29 patients who have died from COVID-19 complications, 15 others who tested positive for the virus were determined to have died from unrelated causes, including three whose deaths were attributed to a heart attack and another four, whose deaths were attributed to coronary heart disease.
Amongst the 70 confirmed cases reported from 16 to 22 February, 44 cases have tested positive for their serology tests, 11 have tested negative, and 15 serology test results are pending.
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