Singapore reports 35 new COVID-19 cases, all imported; highest since Mar 28

SINGAPORE: Thirty-five new COVID-19 cases were reported in Singapore as of noon on Sunday (Jan 3), said the Ministry of Health (MOH).

No new cases were found in the community and in foreign workers' dormitories.

All cases were imported and were placed on stay-home notice or isolated upon their arrival in Singapore, said the ministry. 

This is the highest daily number of imported cases in Singapore since Mar 28. 

Among the 35 imported cases, 32 were asymptomatic while three were symptomatic.  

One of them is a 20-year-old Singaporean woman who returned from the United Kingdom and five are Singapore permanent residents who returned from India and Indonesia. 

PERMANENT RESIDENTS

A 70-year-old permanent resident who returned from India is a contact of Case 58898, another permanent resident who tested positive on Friday.

A 38-year-old permanent resident who returned from India and tested positive in a serological test, is a contact of Case 58901, a permanent resident who was confirmed with COVID-19 on Friday. A 43-year-old permanent resident who returned from India is also linked to Case 58901 and a 13-year-old boy, Case 58903, who is also a permanent resident. 

THREE DEPENDANT'S PASS HOLDERS ARE BABIES

Ten cases are dependant's pass holders who arrived from India and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Two of them, a 41-year-old woman and 9-year-old girl are linked to a work pass holder who travelled from India, Case 58893. The man had tested positive on Friday. 

Three dependant's pass holders, including a 1-year-old baby, travelled from the UAE and are contacts of Case 58861, a work pass holder who tested positive on Thursday. 

Another two 1-year-old babies are dependant's pass holders who arrived from India and are linked to Cases 58890 and 58891, a man and woman who were confirmed with COVID-19 on Friday. 

A 78-year-old man who travelled from India is a long-term visit pass holder.

There were four work pass holders who arrived from Russia, India, Japan and Maldives.

Twelve are work permit holders who arrived from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Malaysia, including seven who are foreign domestic workers.

One of the work permit holders is a 38-year-old man who arrived from India and is a contact of Singapore permanent resident, Case 58900, who tested positive on Friday. 

SHIP CREW MEMBER FAILED TO DECLARE SYMPTOMS

Another work permit holder, a 49-year-old man is a ship crew member who had boarded a vessel on Mar 4 last year in Indonesia.

He developed a fever on Dec 23 but had self-medicated. On Dec 31, he was placed on quarantine as he had been identified as a close contact of a previously reported case, Case 58812, who is a crew member of the same vessel. 

The man failed to declare his symptoms until Jan 2, said the ministry. 

He consulted a doctor via video-consultation on the same day, and was subsequently conveyed to NCID where he tested positive for COVID-19. 

Before that, he had not disembarked from the vessel. All the remaining crew members of the vessel have been placed on quarantine, said MOH. 

SHORT-TERM VISIT PASS HOLDERS

Two cases are short-term visit pass holders. Case 58944 arrived from India to visit his Singaporean child while Case 58945 is a cargo pilot who arrived from the US via Australia. 

The cargo pilot was isolated upon arrival in Singapore and was conveyed directly to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) where he was tested and confirmed to have COVID-19 infection. His serological test result came back positive.

11 MORE DISCHARGED

Another 11 COVID-19 cases have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities, said MOH. 

A total of 58,487 have fully recovered from the infection. 

There are currently 64 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Most of these cases are stable or improving, said the ministry, and one is in critical condition in the intensive care unit. 

117 people are isolated and cared for at community facilities. These are those who have mild symptoms, or are clinically well but still test positive for COVID-19. 

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COVID-19 TESTING STEPPED UP FOR MARITIME SECTOR

Singapore said on Saturday it will tighten the COVID-19 testing regime for more than 20,000 shore-based workers in the maritime sector.

These workers will have to take a COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test between Jan 2 and 8 before they are allowed to board ships for work. 

They will also have to undergo rostered routine testing every seven days instead of 14 days.

The authorities said they are also investigating if two marine sector employees who recently tested positive for COVID-19 had breached safe management measures at work. 

The two employees are the marine surveyor at Lloyd's Register Singapore who tested positive on Dec 29, and the marine service engineer at Master Systems Marine who tested positive on Nov 26.

The marine surveyor is among four people in a new cluster involving two Raffles Girls' School students, while the marine service engineer had dinner with 12 family members at a Seoul Garden outlet days before he tested positive.

As of Sunday, Singapore has reported a total of 58,697 COVID-19 cases and 29 fatalities from the disease. 

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story said that the number of new imported cases is the highest since the start of the pandemic. This is incorrect. It is the highest since Mar 28. We apologise for the error.

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