All COVID-19 Community Cases Reported on 3 May Were Initially Tested Negative for the Coronavirus

If someone tests negative for the coronavirus and is quarantined from then on, there’s no way they can later test positive, right?

Wrong. 

This is COVID-19 we’re talking about, where logic is laughed at and rationality ignored.

Believe it or not, all 10 community cases reported yesterday (3 May) initially tested negative for the coronavirus.

Here are the deets.

8 Community Cases Linked to TTSH

Eight of the ten community cases are linked to The Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) cluster, the cluster everyone’s talking about right now.

Five of them are patients who had been warded in TTSH Ward 9D.

All five are Singaporeans aged between 53 and 94. They were transferred to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) for isolation on 28 April, and tested for COVID-19.

All five of their tests on 28 April had come back negative. Even though some of them also tested negative on their second test, all of them eventually tested positive just days after their first COVID-19 test.

Their serology tests have also returned a negative result, meaning all of them are carrying a fresh infection.

The other three cases are staff working at TTSH.

They are:

• A 22-year-old female Malaysia national who is employed by UEMS Solutions Pte Ltd and deployed as a porter at TTSH.
• A 25 year-old female Singaporean who works as a nurse at TTSH’s emergency department.
• A 26 year-old female Vietnam national who works as a nurse at TTSH Ward 9D.

As part of TTSH’s testing of all staff of the hospital, all of them were first tested between 28 and 30 April, and the results for all three came back negative.

But just as with the patients, all three staff tested positive just a few days later. Two experienced symptoms, while the only asymptomatic case—the 26-year-old Vietnamese nurse—had already completed her vaccination regimen.

She received her first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine on 18 January and the second dose on 8 February.

In total, there are 35 COVID-19 cases linked to the TTSH cluster. It is the largest of nine active clusters in Singapore.

2 Community Cases Linked to ICA Officer

The TTSH cluster isn’t the only one that has continued to grow, though.

Two new COVID-19 infections were linked to Changi Airport cluster, which began with the detection of an Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer’s infection.

The first is a 37-year-old female Philippines national who is a homemaker. She is the wife of a previously reported case, a 39-year-old Singaporean.

The other case is the couple’s son, a 3-year-old male Singaporean.

This cluster now has 11 cases linked to it.

7 Imported Cases

In addition, seven imported COVID-19 cases were reported, all of whom were placed on stay-home notice (SHN) upon arrival in Singapore.

They comprise of:

• Three permanent residents who returned from India and the Philippines.
• A dependant’s pass holder who arrived from Nepal.
• Two work pass holders who arrived from the Philippines and Russia.
• A Short-Term Visit Pass holder who arrived from India to visit a family member who is a Singaporean permanent resident (PR).

Fortunately, no new cases were reported in migrant workers’ dormitories.

Feature Image: kandl stock / Shutterstock.com (Image is for illustration purposes only)