11 More COVID-19 Cases Detected in Woodlands Dorm; Hundreds of Workers Moving to Quarantine Facility

Yesterday, Yahoo News Singapore conducted a poll to determine whether Singaporeans think it’s time to end the outdoor mask mandate.

Over 12,000 people voted, and the results may surprise you.

56% of respondents said the mandate should stay in place while 37% said it was time to do away with it.

The remaining 7%, who probably cared about safety but also hated being reacquainted with their bad breath every time they went outside, said maybe.

The poll showed that the majority of us understand one very important thing about the coronavirus outbreak: that even when it seems to be over, it’s really not.

11 More COVID-19 Cases Detected in Woodlands Dorm

On Tuesday (20 Apr), one dorm case was among the 14 reported: a 35-year-old Bangladeshi worker residing at Westlite Woodlands Dormitory in Woodlands.

Now, it turns out that another 11 infections have been detected in the same dormitory.

After the 35-year-old tested positive for COVID-19, his close contacts at the dorm and his workplace were isolated and placed under quarantine.

There, his roommate was found to be carrying the disease.

As a precaution, all residents at the dormitory were also tested for the coronavirus. At the time of writing, 10 recovered workers have tested positive.

They were immediately isolated and taken to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) and are now being investigated for possible re-infection.

All the workers who tested positive so far stay at the same block of the dormitory as the 35-year-old man.

Hundreds of Workers Moving to Quarantine Facility

As a further precautionary measure, hundreds of workers staying at the block will be moved to a government facility today and quarantined for 14 days.

The dorm residents were recalled from work and have to stay in their units at all times until they are moved to the facility.

Fearing a lockdown, many of these workers stocked up on groceries such as rice and cooking oil.

Tested Positive After Getting Vaccinated

The first man to test positive in the dorm – the 35-year-old Bangladeshi –  works as a construction supervisor at Sembcorp Marine Admiralty Yard.

He developed a runny nose on 16 Apr but did not report his symptoms.

Fortunately, the Ministry of Health (MOH) happened to be carrying out rostered routine testing that day, and swabbed the man.

His pooled result came back positive on 18 Apr for COVID-19 and he was immediately isolated and taken to NCID.

Another test was done the next day, which also came back positive.

After his positive test result, the authorities discovered that the dorm resident had already been vaccinated. 

The man received his first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine on 12 March and the second dose on 13 April.

MOH attributed his positive serology test result to his vaccination, as he would have produced antibodies as a result.

“As it typically takes a few weeks for an individual to build up immunity after completing vaccination, he was likely to have been infected before he was conferred protection after vaccination,” MOH said.

Featured Image: Youtube (The Straits Times)