S’porean Who Returned from India was Among the 12 Imported Cases on 28 March

For two beautiful, worry-free weeks, we had no COVID-19 cases in the community at all.

It was a pleasant time, where we dreamt of travel bubbles and the easing of more restrictions.

But then the authorities reported one community infection each on 26 and 27 March, and residents started to worry again.

My heart won’t be able to stand this emotional roller coaster for much longer. 

But then we got some good news yesterday.

S’porean Who Returned from India was Among the 12 Imported Cases on 28 March

All of the 12 new COVID-19 cases reported yesterday (28 March) were imported, including a Singaporean who returned from India.

They were placed on stay-home notices or isolated upon arrival in Singapore, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said.

Only two of the 12 cases exhibited symptoms, while the rest were asymptomatic. The 10 asymptomatic cases were only detected because the authorities carried out proactive screening and surveillance.

Among the imported cases was a short-term visit pass holder from the United States who came here for a work project.

There were also five work permit holders who arrived from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, and the Philippines, four of whom were foreign domestic workers.

As previously mentioned, there were no new cases in the community or from workers’ dormitories.

According to MOH, the number of new community cases increased from none in the week before to two in the past week.

Similarly, the number of unlinked cases in the community has also gone up from zero to two in the same period.

Sole Community Case Reported on 27 Mar Might Be a Past Infection

Of the 23 COVID-19 cases reported on 27 March, one was from the community.

However, there’s now reason to believe that the sole community case might have been infected in the past. 

The 48-year-old woman is a permanent resident who works as a part-time food packer at Sheera at 5 Kaki Bukit Road 1.

Fortunately, she does not interact with customers in her job.

The woman, known as Case 61205, had travelled to India in March last year and returned to Singapore on 11 Dec.

Like most arrivals at that time, she was issued a stay-home notice at a dedicated facility.

Her test on 21 Dec came back negative and she was released on 25 Dec.

This year, she was supposed to travel to India in March for another trip, but when she took a pre-departure test, it came back positive and she was taken to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.

Here’s where things got weird.

The next day, 26 March, the woman was tested again, but was negative for COVID-19 this time.

Furthermore, the results for her serological test had come back positive, meaning it was a past infection.

This means that the woman could have been infected some time back, and was only now detected.

As the MOH explained: “She could be shedding minute fragments of the virus RNA from a past infection, but given that we are not able to definitively conclude when she had been infected, we will take all the necessary public health actions as a precautionary measure”.

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