A COVID-19 Community Case Investigated as He Might Have Broken COVID-19 Rules


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In terms of local transmission, yesterday’s number of new community cases trumped those over the past four months.

30 new Covid-19 cases were reported, with 5 of them, local transmissions.

This brings the total number of cases in Singapore to 58,599.

A COVID-19 Community Case Investigated as He Might Have Broken COVID-19 Rules

Of the new community cases, 2 are family members of Case 58810, a Marine Surveyor who was in yesterday’s COVID-19 report.

One is a freelance florist working from home located at Ghim Moh Road while the other is a 14-year-old Raffles Girls School student who was last in school on 23 Dec 2020.

The remaining three belong to a family cluster.

One is a harbour pilot (Case 58817), an asymptomatic case who was detected from Rostered Routine Testing (RRT).

As part of his job, he boards vessels and guides them through congested waters.

The remaining two community cases are his relatives, a 59-year-old Singaporean female retiree and an unemployed 55-year-old man.

It was revealed by the Ministry of Health (MOH) that the harbour pilot had visited Parkway Parade with 7 other individuals on 13 Dec 2020 when the rule of five still applies (i.e. Phase 2).

He is also known to visit the homes of his relatives.

Investigations are now ongoing to check if any safe management measures have been breached.

All identified close contacts of the cases, including family and colleagues, have been isolated, MOH added.

They will be tested at the start and end of their quarantine periods in case of asymptomatic cases.

Aggressive Contact Tracing

MOH is now aggressively tracing and testing the close contacts of the community cases so as to ringfence these cases and prevent further transmission.

In addition, they will commence a special testing operation to test individuals who had boarded the ships that Cases 58810 and 58817 had recently worked on.


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The authorities have said that they’ll review the precautionary measures for workers in the marine sector.

“In view of the recent cases involving the marine sector, we will review the need to tighten our precautionary measures for these workers.”

They will also test harbour pilots, marine surveyors and ship repair workers in the coming days, regardless of their RRT schedule, to determine their COVID-19 status.

25 Imported Cases

On 31 Dec 2020, Singapore reported 25 imported cases.

They consist of:

  • 2 Singaporeans
  • 3 Permanent Residents
  • 2 Work Pass Holders
  • 14 Work Permit Holders (9 are FDWs)
  • 1 Dependants’ Pass Holder
  • A Long-Term Visit Pass Holder
  • 1 Special Pass Holder
  • A Short-Term Visit Pass Holder

All of them have been isolated or quarantined upon arrival in Singapore.


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New Places Added To MOH’s List

MOH maintains a list of places visited by Covid-19 patients in their infectious phases.

On 31 Dec 2020, several new places were added to MOH’s list, including:

  • Geylang Serai Malay Market and Food Centre
  • Kampong Glam Cafe in Bussorah Street
  • New Hawa Restaurant at Changi Road

You can view the full list of places below:

Image: MOH

If you were in the area at around the same time period, monitor your health for the next 14 days and see a doctor if you experience even the slightest symptom.

Remember, while its Phase 3, the only way we’ll remain in this phase, or better, depends entirely on how we cooperate with the measures in place.

After all, experts have said that these measures are adequate; so if there’s an outbreak, the problem isn’t the measure, but us.


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You can check out what you can do in Phase 3 here.

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