1 of the Community Cases Reported on 8 Feb is a Bus Driver Transporting SHN Travellers; Had Ignored His Symptoms as Well

There’s a new disease going around Singapore, and it’s worrying the authorities.

Called medicas ignorus, individuals who have the disease are unable to bring themselves to see a doctor when ill.

They are aware of the health risks they pose to other people and to themselves if they do not seek medical attention, but their body simply cannot enter a medical facility.

More and more confirmed Covid-19 patients in Singapore have been displaying symptoms of medicas ignorus, and now, one of them happens to be a driver who ferries visitors from overseas.

1 of the Community Cases Reported on 8 Feb is a Bus Driver Transporting SHN Travellers; Had Ignored His Symptoms as Well

22 new Covid-19 cases were reported on Monday (8 Feb), of which two were from the community.

The remaining 20 cases were from abroad and had all been placed on stay-home notices upon their arrival here.

One of them is a Singaporean bus driver employed by Cobb & Coach Services. His job entails fetching passengers from Changi Airport to the dedicated stay-home notice facilities.

His bus is disinfected after every trip.

The man developed a runny nose on 31 Jan, but did not seek medical attention.

His infection was only detected when he was tested for the virus on 5 Feb as part of the regular routine testing of workers.

He was taken to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) after getting a positive result.

His serology test has come back negative, indicating that this is likely a fresh infection.

The other community case is a 30-year-old Indian national who works as an engineer at Station Satcom.

His job entails boarding ships to install communications and IT equipment.

The man had been placed on quarantine from 13 to 24 Jan after being identified as a close contact of a previous case.

However, swabs taken during this period were negative for the virus, as was another test on 29 Jan.

But a few days later, on 4 Feb, the man experienced fatigue and a fever.

Like so many other recent cases, however, the man did not seek medical attention.

His infection was only detected when he was tested as part of the regular routine testing of workers on 5 Feb.

After his infection was confirmed, he too, was taken to NCID.

Interestingly, while his serological test has also come back positive, the authorities believe it is still a recent infection.

They attribute his positive result to his vaccination on 27 Jan, as it had produced antibodies by the time he was tested.

Rise in Community Cases

We’re still a few days away from Chinese New Year, but we’re already seeing a rise in community cases.

The number of new community cases has gone up slightly from three in the week before to four in the past week.

The number of unlinked cases has also risen from two in the week before to four in the past week.

The merriment of festive occasions can often make us let our guard down, and this is why there are restrictions in place for CNY.

As long as we follow the prevailing guidelines, we will keep our friends and family safe.

Otherwise, infections will rise, and we’ll have to deal with even more rules and restrictions.

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