Imagine this: you enter a foreign country and discover that you’ve contracted a deadly disease that has claimed over 3 million lives worldwide.
You then manage to recover from the disease in a few days, and the hospital discharges you.
Just as you’re breathing a huge sigh of relief, you discover ten days later that your sister-in-law and her husband have tested positive for the coronavirus, and are worried that they’ll pass on the illness to you again.
But the authorities tell you that it was you who got reinfected and spread the disease to them instead.
This sounds like a twist that in an M. Night Shyamalan movie, but it actually happened recently.
Reinfected After Discharge
The man, a 43-year-old Indian national, arrived from India on a work pass and tested positive for the coronavirus on 2 April.
He was classified as an imported case.
Like all other positive cases, the man was taken to the hospital where staff discovered that the man had already recovered from the virus.
They came to this conclusion based on three observations:
- He had a high Ct value which indicates a low viral load
- His serology test result came back positive on 4 April, indicating a past infection
- His pre-departure test taken on 31 March was also negative
Even a cat with no medical training would be able to tell that this man had recovered from COVID-19.
So, the hospital discharged the man on 6 Apr, as he was deemed to no longer be infectious.
But he ended up infecting his sister-in-law and her husband not long after.
New COVID-19 Cluster Formed
On 16 Apr, the man’s sister-in-law, a 41-year-old accountant, tested positive for COVID-19 and was reported as a community case.
Her husband, a 44-year-old restaurant manager tested positive just two days later, and was also classed as a community case.
On 17 Apr, the 43-year-old man was identified as a close contact of his sister-in-law and later tested positive for COVID-19.
How?
Reinfection.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) believe that the man was reinfected in India, and was infectious when he returned to Singapore.
But the authorities cannot confirm when the man was first infected with the coronavirus.
Since the infections were from the same household, a new COVID-19 cluster has formed.
Authorities Reviewing Border Measures for Recovered Cases
Owing to the emergence of new COVID-19 variants around the world and cases of reinfections, MOH said it will closely monitor recovered COVID-19 cases for reinfection, as well as review border measures for recovered travellers.
“Similar imported cases suspected of reinfection will be isolated and undergo repeat Covid-19 PCR tests to monitor the trend of their viral loads, to ensure that such cases are detected promptly,” the ministry said.
Yesterday (20 Apr), Singapore tightened border restrictions for travellers from India.
They will have to serve an additional seven days of stay-home notice at their residence following their 14-day stay-home notice at dedicated facilities.
Due to the escalating outbreak in India and the emergence of new COVID-19 variants, the authorities will also reduce entry approvals for non-Singapore citizens or permanent residents.
Featured Image: Musashi akira / Shutterstock.com
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