SIA Pilot Who Has COVID-19 Could Have New UK Coronavirus Strain

On 30 Dec 2020, 27 new Covid-19 cases were reported.

26 of them are import cases, including one Singapore Airline pilot and a work pass holder.

Both of them preliminarily tested positive for B117, UK’s variant of the coronavirus.

SIA Pilot Who Has COVID-19 Could Have New UK Coronavirus Strain

The SIA pilot, a 40-year-old man, was in the UK for business between 19 Dec and 22 Dec 2020, the Ministry of Health (MOH) reported.

On 23 Dec 2020, he was tested as part of CAAS’s pro-active surveillance for aircrew returning on overseas flights.

While initially tested negative, the man subsequently developed a fever on 26 Dec 2020.

He went to a general practitioner clinic on 27 Dec and tested positive for the coronavirus, and was sent to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID).

Serological tests for him returned negative, indicating a likely current infection.

MOH says they’ll conduct further tests to determine the type of Covid-19 virus he has.

The Work Pass Holder

The other Covid-19 case which might have been infected with the UK variant is a 53-year-old man who had returned from the UK.

While he had completed his Stay-Home-Notice (SHN) on 21 Dec 2020, he felt body aches on 22 Dec 2020 and developed Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI) symptoms on Christmas Day, 25 Dec 2020.

The man then tested positive on 29 Dec 2020.

Other Cases

The other 24 Covid-19 cases reported on 30 Dec 2020 have been on SHN, or isolated, upon arrival in Singapore.

They include:

• 3 Singaporeans
• 4 Permanent Residents
• 5 Work pass holders
• 7 Work permit holders, six of them foreign domestic workers

The sole unlinked community case is a Marine Surveyor at Lloyd’s Register Singapore.

His work consists of boarding vessels docked at Sembcorp Marine Admiralty Yard.

He developed symptoms on 27 Dec and went to a general practitioner clinic on 28 Dec 2020 where he was tested positive for the coronavirus.

He had not gone to work since the onset of symptoms and his last Covid-19 swap under the Rostered Routine Testing (RRT) on 14 Dec returned negative.

Epidemiological investigations are ongoing.

Experts: Measures Don’t Have To Change Even If B117 Circulates In S’pore

If you haven’t heard by now, the UK variant is causing alarm all over the world because it’s 70% more transmissible than other Covid-19 variants.

Well, if you’re worried about it circulating in Singapore, don’t worry because experts in Singapore have spoken up.

Even if the UK variant of Covid-19 is present here in Singapore, it won’t change a thing, at least in terms of safe management measures, experts say.

That’s because the current measures that we’re taking, including wearing of masks and practising social distancing, are enough to protect us from the rampant spread of coronavirus.

According to Professor Ooi Eng Eong from the Duke-NUS Medical School, while transmissibility has increased, the mode of transmissions remain the same.

Control measures, he pointed out, are made for transmission modes, not how much more it’ll spread.

One of the two things that’ll change, however, is the consequences of breaking Covid-19 rules since it’ll lead to greater consequences (70% more transmissible, remember?) so while it’s Phase 3, let’s not do anything too crazy like organising a party for 36 people.

The other thing that’ll change is the number of people needed to be vaccinated in Singapore. You can read more about that here.

Featured Image: Fedor Selivanov / Shutterstock.com