Singapore reports 9 new COVID-19 cases, all imported; lowest daily figure in more than 6 weeks

SINGAPORE: There were nine new COVID-19 cases in Singapore as of noon on Saturday (Feb 13), the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in its preliminary daily update.

All the new infections were imported and were placed on stay-home notice upon arrival in Singapore.

This is the lowest daily figure in more than six weeks.

Details of the new cases will be released on Saturday night, said MOH.

NEW CLUSTER AT CHINATOWN COMPLEX

A new COVID-19 cluster linked to a Chinatown Complex stall owner was identified on Friday, after his wife and two sons also tested positive for the disease. 

The stall owner is a 66-year-old permanent resident identified as Case 60138. He first developed a dry cough on Jan 28 and "anosmia", or loss of smell, on Feb 9, but did not seek medical attention, said the Ministry of Health (MOH).

His infection was detected through community surveillance testing of stallholders and shop owners in Chinatown on Feb 9.

The man's wife, a 62-year-old homemaker, and their sons, aged 32 and 33, all tested positive two days later on Feb 11. 

The 32-year-old man, who works part-time as a waiter at Swensen's at Changi Airport Terminal 3, reported symptoms and was taken to National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID), where he was tested for COVID-19. 

His mother and brother were quarantined at a dedicated facility on Feb 10 and tested on Feb 11 even though they did not report any symptoms. They were taken to NCID by ambulance after their tests came back positive the same day. 

MOH noted that the stall owner and his family do not use the TraceTogether app, and while they all have TraceTogether tokens, they did not carry their tokens with them.

"Individuals are reminded to turn on their TraceTogether app or carry their TraceTogether token at all times so that we can quickly identify and isolate the close contacts of COVID-19 cases, and limit further infections," said MOH.

As of Saturday, Singapore has reported a total of 59,786 COVID-19 cases.

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