23 COVID-19 Cases Today (8 Jan); 2 Community Cases But Both Had Been Placed on Quarantine Earlier

Today’s an interesting day: our Prime Minister took a COVID-19 jab to convince us that it’s safe, a person was jailed for lying to contact tracers and also, community cases are still being reported.

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

21 of them are imported cases.

2 are community cases, and both had been placed on quarantine earlier.

This brings the total number of cases in Singapore to 58,836.

Based on yesterday’s figures, the number of new cases in the community has increased from 7 cases in the week before to 9 cases in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also increased from 3 cases in the week before to 6 cases in the past week.

Crowne Plaza in Changi Airport to Close for 2 Weeks After 2nd Unlinked COVID-19 Case Reported in the Hotel

Yesterday (7 Jan), another unlinked case emerged at Crowne Plaza Changi Airport.

Similar to the first case, the 43-year-old Malaysian national works at Azur delivery pre-packed food to aircrews and hotel guests.

She does not have any interaction with the restaurant’s guests.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) revealed that she developed symptoms on 3 Jan 2021 (Sunday). She went to a general practitioner clinic on Tuesday where she underwent a Covid-19 swab.

Her test returned positive the next day and she was sent to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID).

Her serological result returns negative, indicating that it’s likely a current infection.

Preliminary tests indicate that she isn’t infected with B117, the more infectious Covid-19 strain.

Because of the two unlinked cases, MOH can no longer exclude the possibility that transmission could’ve occurred within the hotel.

They announced that it’s closing the hotel for two weeks, starting from today (8 January) and the suspension will end on 21 Jan 2021.

New guests will not be accepted at the hotel and existing guests, including foreign aircrew and guests, staying at the hotel will be checked out progressively.

Incoming aircrew will be housed in alternative locations.

MOH has started testing all the staff working at the hotel for Covid-19.

Restaurants and event spaces within the hotel will be closed as well for deep cleaning and disinfection works.

Featured Image: kandl stock / Shutterstock.com