COVID-19: 17 new cases including 8 linked to TTSH cluster

SINGAPORE – The Ministry of Health (MOH) on Monday (3 May) confirmed the detection of 17 new cases of COVID-19 infection in Singapore, taking the country's total case count to 61,235.

In a press release, it said that there are 10 new cases of locally transmitted COVID-19 infection, all of whom are either patients and staff at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) or close contacts of previous cases who had already been placed on quarantine. Among them, eight cases are linked to Case 62541 – a 46-year-old nurse deployed at Ward 9D of TTSH – and were detected from the MOH's proactive testing.

In total, there are now 35 cases linked to this cluster.

In addition, there are seven imported cases, who had already been placed on Stay-Home Notice (SHN) upon arrival in Singapore.

Case 62517 cluster

There are two new cases linked to this cluster – Case 62517 is a 38-year-old male Singaporean who works as an Immigration & Checkpoints Authority officer deployed at Changi Airport Terminal 1; he was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 27 April.

Case 62779 is a 37-year-old female Philippines national who is a homemaker, and Case 62780 is a 3-year-old male Singaporean. Case 62779 is the spouse of Case 62571 – a 39-year-old male Singaporean who is a family member of Case 62517, and had interacted with him over dinner on 25 April – and Case 62780 is their child.

As they had been identified as close contacts of Case 62517, Cases 62779 and 62780 were placed on quarantine on 27 April. They were tested for COVID-19 during quarantine on 28 April and their results were negative.

On 1 May, they were tested again even though they are asymptomatic and their test results came back positive for COVID-19 infection the next day. Case 62779’s serology test result is negative and Case 62780’s is pending.

TTSH cluster

Patients who had been warded in TTSH Ward 9D

Cases 62786, 62787, 62791, 62794 and 62795 are patients who had been warded in TTSH Ward 9D. They were transferred to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) for isolation on 28 April, and tested for COVID-19 infection.

Case 62786 is an 82-year-old female Singaporean who had been warded in TTSH Ward 9D from 21 April, and was transferred to NCID on 28 April. She was tested for COVID-19 on 28 April and again on 1 May, and both results were negative. On 2 May, she was tested again even though she is asymptomatic, and this time her result came back positive for COVID-19 infection. Her serology test result is negative.

Case 62787 is a 94-year-old female Singaporean who had been warded in TTSH Ward 9D from 9 April, and was transferred to NCID on 28 April. She was tested for COVID-19 on 28 April and her result was negative. She developed a cough on 2 May, and was tested again. This time, her result came back positive for COVID-19 infection. Her serology test result is negative.

Case 62791 is a 70-year-old male Singaporean who had been warded in TTSH Ward 9D from 21 April, and was transferred to NCID on 28 April. He was tested for COVID-19 on 30 April and his result was negative. On 2 May, he was tested again for COVID-19 even though he is asymptomatic, and his result came back positive on the same day. His serology test result is negative.

Case 62794 is a 53-year-old female Singaporean who had been warded in TTSH Ward 9D from 26 April, and was transferred to NCID on 28 April. She was tested for COVID-19 on 28 April and again on 30 April, and both results were negative. She developed a cough on 1 May, and was swabbed the next day. Her test result came back positive for COVID-19 infection. Later on the same day, she developed a fever and runny nose. Her serology test result is negative.

Case 62795 is a 79-year-old male Singaporean who had been warded in TTSH Ward 9D from 22 April, and was transferred to NCID on 28 April. He was tested for COVID-19 on 28 April, and his result was negative. On 2 May, he was tested again for COVID-19 even though he is asymptomatic, and his result came back positive the next day. His serology test result is negative.

TTSH staff

Cases 62781, 62784 and 62790 are staff working at TTSH, and were tested as part of TTSH’s testing of all staff of the hospital.

Case 62781 is a 22-year-old female Malaysia national who is employed by UEMS Solutions Pte Ltd and deployed as a porter at TTSH. She was tested for COVID-19 on 28 April and her result was negative. She developed a sore throat on 29 April but did not seek medical treatment, and subsequently a fever and body aches on 1 May. On 2 May, she sought treatment at TTSH emergency department and her test result came back positive for COVID-19 infection. Her serology test result is negative.

Case 62784 is a 25-year-old female Singaporean who works as a nurse at TTSH emergency department. She was tested for COVID-19 on 30 April and her result was negative. She developed a fever and sore throat on 2 May, and sought treatment at TTSH emergency department. Her test result came back positive on the same day. Her serology test result is pending.

Case 62790 is a 26-year-old female Vietnam national who works as a nurse at TTSH Ward 9D. She was tested for COVID-19 on 28 April and her result was negative. She was placed on quarantine on 29 April and conveyed to a dedicated facility the next day. On 2 May, she was tested again for COVID-19 even though she is asymptomatic, and this time her test came back positive. Her serology test result was negative for the N antigen, which suggests the presence of early infection. Case 62790 received her first dose of COVID-19 vaccine on 18 January, and the second dose on 8 February.

Details of the imported cases

Among the seven imported cases:

• Three are Singapore permanent residents who returned from India and the Philippines.

• One is a dependant’s pass holder who arrived from Nepal.

• Two are work pass holders who arrived from the Philippines and Russia.

• One is a short-term visit pass holder who arrived from India to visit a family member who is a Singapore permanent resident.

99% of total cases have recovered

With 20 more patients discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities on Monday, 60,806 cases – or 99.3 per cent of the total – have fully recovered from the infection.

Most of the 131 hospitalised cases are stable or improving, while none is in the intensive care unit.

A total of 267 patients – with mild symptoms or are clinically well but still test positive – are isolated and cared for at community facilities.

Apart from the 31 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.

Among the 184 confirmed cases reported from 27 April to 3 May, 52 cases have tested positive for their serology tests, 105 have tested negative, and 27 serology test results are pending.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has increased from 10 cases in the week before to 60 cases in the past week, the ministry said. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also increased from four cases in the week before to 10 cases in the past week.

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