Singapore reports 30 new COVID-19 cases, including 3 in the community
SINGAPORE: Singapore reported 30 new cases of COVID-19 as of noon on Friday (Jan 1). These include three community cases, with two linked to family clusters involving workers in the marine sector.
One of the community cases is a family member of the PSA Marine harbour pilot whose infection was reported on Dec 31, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) in its preliminary daily update.
This cluster was confirmed on Dec 31 after the harbour pilot and two of his relatives tested positive for COVID-19.
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Another of the new community cases is a close contact of the marine surveyor at Lloyd's Register Singapore and the 14-year-old Raffles Girls' School student, who were among the confirmed cases on Dec 30 and 31, respectively.
The cluster linked to the marine surveyor now involves four people, as with the cluster linked to the habour pilot.
The remaining 27 new cases were imported. All were placed on stay-home notice/isolated upon their arrival in Singapore.
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Five of them are Singaporeans or permanent residents, while 14 are foreign domestic workers.
Details of the new cases will be released on Friday night, said the health ministry.
ADDITIONAL MEASURES FOR MARINE SECTOR AFTER FAMILY CLUSTERS REPORTED
Following the infections involving the marine surveyor and harbour pilot, MOH on Thursday announced that it would begin “special testing operations” to test those who had boarded vessels in which two COVID-19 cases recently worked.
Harbour pilots, marine surveyors and ship repair workers will also be tested for COVID-19 “in the coming days”, regardless of their rostered routine testing schedule, the ministry added.
READ: Additional COVID-19 measures for marine sector after recent cases form family clusters
"The relevant authorities will also review the need to tighten our precautionary measures for these workers," the ministry added.
Two of the harbour pilot’s relatives were among the community cases reported on Thursday – a 79-year-old woman and a 50-year-old man. Both are Singaporeans and live in Marine Crescent, where the harbour pilot also resides.
READ: Singapore reports 5 COVID-19 community cases, the highest in 4 months; 30 new infections in total
"On Dec 28, both cases developed acute respiratory infection symptoms but did not seek medical treatment," MOH said.
They were both placed on quarantine on Dec 30 after they had been identified as close contacts of the harbour pilot.
"As they were already symptomatic, they were conveyed to NCID in ambulances and subsequently tested positive for COVID-19 infection," MOH said.
Family members of the marine surveyor were also among Thursday’s community cases.
One is a 46-year-old freelance florist, who is a Singapore permanent resident. She was identified as a close contact on Dec 29 and placed on home quarantine the next day.
The same day, she developed symptoms and was taken to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases in an ambulance. Her test result came back positive on Dec 31.
Another case linked to the marine surveyor is a 14-year-old student from Raffles Girls’ School.
She was identified as a close contact on Dec 29 and placed on home quarantine the next day as well. On Dec 30, she was tested for COVID-19 and confirmed positive on Dec 31. She began developing symptoms on the same day.
Her last day in school was Dec 23.
All those identified as close contacts of the cases, including family members and co-workers, have been isolated and placed on quarantine, said MOH.
Singapore has reported a total of 58,629 cases of COVID-19 as of Friday.