14 COVID-19 Cases Today (26 Jan); All Are Imported Cases

Today is the fourth consecutive day whereby there is no community case.

As of 12pm today (26 Jan), the Ministry of Health (MOH) has preliminarily confirmed 14 new cases of COVID-19 infection.

All of them are imported cases.

This brings the total number of cases in Singapore to 59,366

Based on yesterday’s figures, the number of new cases in the community has increased from 10 cases in the week before to 13 cases in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has decreased from 4 cases in the week before to 3 cases in the past week.

Now, with so many imported cases, you might wonder if we’re now accepting more travellers.

Well, no.

The Reason for Rise in Imported COVID-19 Cases Isn’t Due to More Travellers Arriving in S’pore

Despite what the numbers imply, the government hasn’t increased the number of travellers coming into Singapore, Mr Lawrence Wong said.

Instead, a much higher infection rate of the virus across the globe is to blame.

“We have not increased (the number of) travellers coming into Singapore,” Mr Wong said on Monday (25 Jan).

“Why have the numbers gone up? It’s simply because the prevalence rate, the incidence rate, of the disease is much higher now. The virus is raging in countries everywhere.”

Speaking at the Institute of Policy Studies, Mr Wong said that the biggest sources of travellers remains construction and foreign domestic workers.

And the number of these workers entering the country has not risen “in recent times”.

Moreover, all travellers are now required to take a pre-departure test 72 hours before they arrive.

But since the tests are not always foolproof – some people may initially test negative while the body is incubating the virus – other measures have to be implemented.

This is why some travellers have to serve 14-day or 21-day stay-home notices, to separate potential infections from the community.

Even though remaining somewhat open to the world is necessary for Singapore’s economy and society to function, the authorities will continue to take the necessary precautions to ensure that imported infections are isolated.

Featured Image: Rajaraman Arumugam / Shutterstock.com (Image is for illustration purpose only)