3rd COVID-19 Infection Reported in Crowne Plaza & It’s Likely The New UK Strain

On 8 Jan 2021, 23 new Covid-19 cases were reported.

2 of them are local cases.

One is a 34-year-old Singaporean male who works as a PSA harbour pilot who was identified as a close contact of another harbour pilot, case 58817, who tested positive on 30 Dec 2020.

He has been placed on quarantine at a dedicated facility and tested positive on 7 Jan 2021.

The second is yet another case from a location that’s been mentioned a lot recently: Crowne Plaza Changi Airport.

3rd COVID-19 Infection Reported in Crowne Plaza & It’s Likely The New UK Strain

Case 59084 is a 20-year-old Singaporean male who, like the previous two cases from Crowne Plaza, works at Azur delivering pre-packed meals to hotel guests and aircrews.

Similarly, he does not interact with diners at the restaurant.

He was identified as a close contact of the South Korean national who was the first to be infected with Covid-19 in Azur and has been placed on quarantine since 5 Jan at a facility.

On 7 Jan, he showed acute respiratory infection symptoms and was given a swab test, which returned positive for Covid-19.

He was sent to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) via ambulance.

His serological results came back negative, MOH reveals, indicating that this is likely a current infection.

Preliminary tests also showed that he could’ve contracted the B117 Covid-19 variant, a strain said to be 70% more transmissible than existing Covid-19 variants.

Epidemiological investigations are ongoing.

Temporary Closure Of Crowne Plaza Changi Airport

On 7 Jan, the ministry announced that it’s closing the hotel for two weeks, starting from 8 Jan 2021 and the suspension will end on 21 Jan 2021.

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

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.

According to MOH’s evening update on 8 Jan 2021, 233 out of 234 staff has undergone the Covid-19 swab test.

129 of them have returned negative results while 104 tests are pending.

A test will be arranged for the remaining staff, MOH says.

MOH says it’s investigating into the three known Covid-19 cases and, based on preliminary investigations, they cannot exclude the possibility of transmissions happening within the hotel.

Details On Remaining Cases

There are zero cases in the dormitories and 21 imported cases reported:

• 4 Singaporeans
• 4 Singapore permanent residents
• 1 Dependant’s pass holder
• 1 Student’s pass holder
• 2 Work pass holders
• 8 Work permit holders, 4 of whom are foreign domestic workers
• 1 Short term visit pass holder here to visit her spouse

All of them have been placed on SHN upon arrival in Singapore.

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