23 COVID-19 Cases Today (18 Apr); 1 is a Community Case

It appears that COVID-19 community cases are coming back.

As of 12pm today (18 Apr), the Ministry of Health (MOH) has preliminarily confirmed 23 new cases of COVID-19 infection.

22 are imported cases, and 1 is a community case. MOH will provide more information about the cases tonight.

This brings the total number of cases in Singapore to 60,831.

Based on yesterday’s figures, the number of new cases in the community has increased from 2 cases in the week before to 7 cases in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also increased from 2 cases in the week before to 4 cases in the past week.

1 of the COVID-19 Community Cases Reported on 17 Apr Was About to Serve ICT; Likely a Past Infection

The Singaporean is a 35-year-old man who works as a freelance photographer.

He’s supposed to be serving his ICT right now, but when he was tested on the first day – 15 Apr – as part of the SAF’s protocol, his result came back positive.

Another swab done the next day returned the same result, and he was taken to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID), where he developed a fever that day.

A subsequent test on Friday came back negative, but a later test on Saturday was positive again.

Don’t panic, though, because he was only at his camp on the first day.

Speaking as someone who’s recently completed his ICT, here’s the procedure for the first day:

1. Report to camp and register for your training or in-pro
2. Then sit in a large outdoor hall with other servicemen – with safe distancing, of course – while waiting for your turn to get swabbed
3. Once your name is called, get swabbed, and go straight home

This minimises contact between servicemen on the first day, before everyone is tested, to reduce any potential spread of the coronavirus.

The good thing is that the man’s serological test has come back positive as well, meaning it could be a past infection.

The premises that the 35-year-old had been in has been thoroughly disinfected, a Ministry of Defence spokesman said.

All close contacts during the ICT were also tested. None tested positive and are under quarantine.

“They will be monitored and re-tested to confirm their negative status before they are released from quarantine,” the spokesman added.

Two More Community Cases Linked to NUS Research Fellow

Two of the four community cases are linked to the National University of Singapore (NUS) senior research fellow from India who was confirmed to have COVID-19 on Thursday.

Of the two, one is his colleague – a 31-year-old Swiss woman who is also a senior research fellow at NUS.

She had interacted with him on 12 April and developed a sore throat three days later.

She did not seek medical treatment, however.

Her infection was only detected because she was identified as a close contact of her colleague – she was placed on quarantine and tested positive on 16 Apr.

Her serology test result is pending.

The other case is the Indian researcher’s brother, who works at DBS Bank at 2 Changi Business Park Crescent.

The 35-year-old has mostly been working from home and last visited his workplace between 6 and 9 April.

His infection, too, was discovered after he was identified as a close contact of his brother. He developed a fever the day after he was quarantined and was taken to NCID, where he tested positive.

His serology test is pending too.

The last case in the community is a female Singapore permanent resident. The 41-year-old works as an accountant at OM Universal at 11 Kaki Bukit Road 1 but had prudently not gone to the office since she developed a cough on 14 Apr.

She visited a clinic the next day where she was tested for COVID-19. Her infection was confirmed the following day.

315 Active Cases

There are currently 62 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and 2 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

253 are isolated and cared for at community facilities. These are those who have mild symptoms, or are clinically well but still test positive for COVID-19.

30 have passed away from complications due to COVID-19 infection.

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