Much like that annoying friend who keeps popping up wherever you go, the coronavirus is something we won’t be able to get rid of easily.
Instead, we’ll just have to learn to live with it.
We’ve seen many countries go through long periods without any community infections, only to experience a fresh wave of locally transmitted cases soon after.
In Singapore, most of our infections for the last few months have come from abroad, as the strict safe distancing measures and mandatory mask wearing has significantly reduced the number of new infections.
But, just like that annoying friend, Covid-19 will keep popping up, and sometimes in the unlikeliest of places.
A New COVID-19 Cluster Has Now Formed in a Bunker Tanker
After a couple of days of no community infections, two new local transmissions were reported on Tuesday (5 Jan).
And we also have a new Covid-19 cluster.
Great.
One of the community cases is a 55-year-old Singaporean man who is a close contact of a previously reported case.
The previously reported case is a crew member of a vessel that arrived from Indonesia on 17 Dec.
There’s just something about ships that the coronavirus seems to love.
The 55-year-old man is a cargo officer who was on board the bunker tanker NewOcean 6 from 21 Dec to 23 Dec and from 28 Dec to 2 Jan.
In between these two trips, the man was at his home at Tah Ching Road.
He had been swabbed for the coronavirus earlier as part of schedule testing, but tested negative.
But after a crew member aboard the NewOcean 6 tested positive for Covid-19, the 55-year-old was placed on quarantine on 31 Dec.
He tested positive for Covid-19 the next day, and was brought to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.
His serological test result has come back negative, indicating that this is likely a current infection, the Ministry of Health said.
The man, along with Case 58812, five newly confirmed cases, and two previous cases now form the NewOcean 6 cluster.
Consequently, all remaining crew members aboard the NewOcean 6 have been placed on quarantine since 31 Dec.
The other community Covid-19 case is a 49-year-old Indian man who arrived in Singapore on 10 Dec on a short-term visa.
He came to visit his Singaporean spouse, and served his stay-home notice at a dedicated facility until 24 Dec.
He was permitted entry into the country because his pre-departure test had returned a negative result.
He test on 21 Dec during his SHN also came back negative.
Even after jumping over so many hurdles and evading the coronavirus, the man still eventually contracted it in the community.
His infection was only detected when he took a pre-departure test before returning to India, and he was conveyed to Mount Elizabeth Hospital the next day.
His serological test returned a positive result as well, meaning it was likely a past infection.
26 Imported Cases
Unsurprisingly, most of our cases reported on 5 Jan were imported, with a total of 26 confirmed infections from other countries.
This includes four Singaporeans and PRs who returned from the United States, the United Kingdom, and India.
Two are work pass holders arriving from the UAE, while the rest are work permit holders who arrived from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Myanmar, and the Philippines.
Of these work permit holders, 5 are Indonesian crew members who were on board the NewOcean 6.
They were placed on quarantine on 31 Dec, and tested positive on 4 Jan.
Fortunately, they hadn’t disembarked from the vessel before that.
At the moment, only 60 cases still in hospital. Most of them are stable or improving, and one is in the intensive care unit.
Another 143, who have mild symptoms or are clinically well, are being isolated and cared for at community facilities.
Featured Image: Travelpixs / Shutterstock.com (Image for illustration purpose only)
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