1 community infection among 15 new Covid-19 cases in S'pore

SINGAPORE - There were 15 new coronavirus cases confirmed as at Wednesday noon (April 21), taking Singapore's total to 60,880.

They include one community case. There were no new cases from migrant workers' dormitories, said the Ministry of Health (MOH).

The remaining 14 are imported cases who had been placed on stay-home notice upon arrival in Singapore.

More details will be announced on Wednesday night.

On Tuesday, the only reported locally transmitted case of Covid-19 is a 35-year-old male Bangladeshi who had received both doses of the Covid-19 vaccination.

He showed symptoms despite having received his first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine on March 12 and the second dose on April 13.

He is employed as a construction supervisor by Prosper Environmental & Engineering and works at Sembcorp Marine Admiralty Yard in the Admiralty area.

MOH said that he is likely to have been infected before he was given protection from the virus from the vaccination as it takes a few weeks for an individual's immunity to build up after receiving the jab.

The work permit holder - who arrived in Singapore in July 2019 - is a dormitory resident and has been classified as a dormitory case.

He stays at Westlite Woodlands dormitory.

He developed a runny nose on April 16 but did not report his symptom. On the same day, he was tested for the virus as part of the rostered routine testing programme.

His test came back positive on Sunday. He was immediately isolated and taken to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.

His earlier test results - the latest being from April 9 - were all negative, said MOH.

MOH added that epidemiological investigations are in progress and that all his identified close contacts, including his dormitory and workplace contacts, have been isolated and placed under quarantine.

This is not the first case of an individual being infected after being vaccinated.

On April 7, a 23-year-old work permit holder from India tested positive for Covid-19 after receiving both doses of the vaccine.

He got his first dose on Jan 25 and his second one on Feb 17.

Also, in an update to previous cases, MOH said that a 43-year-old man who had previously been discharged from hospital on April 6 was likely to have been infectious at the time.

The man was classified as an imported case after he tested positive for Covid-19 on arrival from India on April 2.

"He was subsequently assessed to be a recovered case based on his high CT value, which indicated a low viral load; positive serology test result on April 4; as well as the negative pre-departure test taken on March 31," said MOH.

MOH said that he subsequently infected two of his household contacts - his sister-in-law and her husband.

There were 13 other new coronavirus cases confirmed, all imported, for a total of 14 cases reported on Tuesday.

Globally, the virus outbreak, which began in December 2019, has infected more than 142 million people. Over 3.04 million people have died.