Sole Community Case Reported on 28 Dec is an SIA Steward Who is a Part-Time Grab Driver, Too

On 28 Dec 2020, 5 new Covid-19 cases were reported.

4 of them are imported, while 1 is a community case.

During their evening update, the Ministry of Health (MOH) reveals that the sole community case reported yesterday is a 48-year-old Singaporean man.

He works as an air steward and is a part-time driver with Grab.

An asymptomatic case, he was detected via proactive testing arranged by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS) for flight crew who’ve returned from overseas flights.

The man had recently travelled to the US from 12 to 16 Dec 2020 on a controlled itinerary, MOH said.

Tested Multiple Times

According to MOH, he had to be tested multiple times.

He was first tested on Wednesday but the results came back inconclusive on Friday.

He was tested a second time but the results on that day returned inconclusive as well.

It was only on Sunday that his swab test came back positive for the coronavirus.

Throughout the period of waiting for test results, the man had stayed at home.

He was immediately sent to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID).

His serological test came out negative, indicating that it’s likely that he is suffering from a current infection.

Locally Transmitted Case

It was additionally reported that other crew members on the same flight were tested and their results came back negative.

MOH also explained that because the man’s infection and his travel overseas differed by a relatively long period of time, they have classified his case as an unlinked local transmission, instead of an imported case.

Epidemiological investigations are ongoing.

Meanwhile, all close contacts, including both colleagues and family members, have been placed on quarantine.

They will be undergoing both the swab tests and serological tests.

New Restaurant Added To Places Visited By Infectious Covid-19 Cases

Besides the announcement of the sole community case, MOH also added a restaurant to the list of places visited by infectious Covid-19 patients.

On 18 Dec 2020 between 1.25pm and 2.25pm, YuCun Claypot Curry Fish Head was visited.

Other places currently listed on the list include Raffles Shopping Centre, Westgate and IMM.

You can view the full list below:

If you’ve been there during the same period, monitor your health for the next fourteen days and see a doctor immediately if you suspect anything’s wrong.

Remember to tell the doctor about your exposure history too.

Nonetheless, don’t avoid these places because as MOH has previously stated, the National Environment Agency (NEA) would’ve gotten in touch with the operators to do a thorough cleaning when they got into the list.

With Phase 3 in effect now, remember to take even more precautions than ever since there’s a chance we’ll see a spike if people do not follow Covid-19 measures properly.

Especially with the UK-variant of Covid-19.

Here, you can read more about what you can do in Singapore during Phase 3 here.

Feature Image: kandl stock / Shutterstock.com