Sole Unlinked Community Case Reported on 12 May is a Nurse from Sengkang General Hospital

With a large COVID-19 cluster in Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) putting everyone on edge, the last thing we needed was more infections in another hospital.

But, of course, that’s exactly what the coronavirus gave us.

Sole Unlinked Community Case Reported on 12 May is a Nurse from Sengkang General Hospital

Of the 10 community infections reported yesterday, the sole unlinked case is a 33-year-old Philippine national who works as an operating theatre nurse at Sengkang General Hospital (SKH).

The man developed a runny nose on 9 May and cough on 10 May. He then ran a fever and experienced a sore throat, shortness of breath, and loss of taste the next day.

He was tested on 10 May as part of SKH’s testing of staff members and his result came back positive the next day, as did his serology test.

The nurse completed his vaccination regimen on 8 Feb, having received the first dose on 19 Jan.

He has tested preliminarily positive for the B1617 variant, which first emerged in India.

TTSH Cluster Grows, Another Case Linked to Grab Driver

The nurse wasn’t the only case reported in a hospital, as another TTSH patient has tested positive for COVID-19.

She is a 64-year-old Singaporean who had been warded in Ward 9D from 26 Apr and was transferred to NCID on 28 Apr.

After being identified as a close contact of the nurse who was the first to test positive in the cluster, the woman was placed on quarantine on 29 Apr.

She was tested for COVID-19 on 26, 28, and 30 Apr, and the results were all negative. So, she was discharged on 2 May but placed on quarantine.

She was then tested on 11 May during quarantine and this time, her result came back positive.

Her serology test had a negative result, suggesting a fresh infection.

The TTSH cluster now has 44 infections linked to it.

7 Cases Linked to Changi Airport Cluster

7 community infections were linked to the Changi Airport cluster, three of whom have tested preliminarily positive for the B1617 variant.

The three cases are:

•  a 39-year-old male Singaporean who works as an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer at Changi Airport Terminal 3
•  a 38-year-old female Singaporean who works as an ICA officer at Changi Airport Terminal 3
• a 65-year-old male Singaporean who is employed by Ramky Cleantech Services Pte Ltd as a cleaner at Changi Airport Terminal 3

The remaining four cases comprise:

• a 24-year-old male Singaporean who is employed by Huawei Enterprise as an IT engineer and works at Changi Airport Terminal 4
•  a 62-year-old male Singaporean who is employed by Ramky Cleantech Services Pte Ltd as a cleaner and trolley handler at Changi Airport Terminal 3
• a 28-year-old male Singaporean who is employed by Certis Cisco as an aviation security officer at Changi Airport Terminal 3
• a 42-year-old male Singaporean who works as a sales associate at a retail store at Changi Airport Terminal 3

5 of the 7 cases had been fully vaccinated before their infection was detected.

6 Imported Cases

The remaining six cases were all from abroad and were placed on stay-home notice upon their arrival.

They are:

•  a Singaporean and Singapore Permanent Resident who returned from India
•  3 Work Pass holders who arrived from Malaysia, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka
• 1 work Permit holder who arrived from the Philippines and is a foreign domestic worker

“The arrivals from the Indian sub-continent had already come into Singapore before the restrictions on travel were imposed,” the Ministry of Health said.

Community Cases Going Down

It’s not all doom and gloom, however.

The number of new community infections has gone down from 62 cases in the week before to 49 cases in the past week.

However, unlinked cases in the community have increased from seven cases in the week before to 12 cases in the past week.

At the moment, 143 cases are still in hospital, most of whom are stable or improving. Three are in critical condition in the intensive care unit. Another 239 with mild symptoms and lower risk factors are being isolated and cared for at community facilities.

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