Engineer who received first dose of vaccine among 2 community cases

A 30-year-old Indian national who received his first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine on Jan 27 was among the two unlinked community cases announced yesterday.

The work pass holder is an engineer at Station Satcom and boards ships to install communications and IT equipment as part of his job.

He was identified as a close contact of a previous case and put under quarantine between Jan 13 and Jan 24.

His swabs taken during quarantine and as part of rostered routine testing (RRT) - up to Jan 29 - were all negative for the virus.

He developed fatigue last Thursday and a fever the next day, but did not seek medical attention, said the Ministry of Health (MOH).

He was tested on Friday as part of RRT. His test result came back positive the next day and he was taken by ambulance to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.

"While his serological test taken on Feb 7 has come back positive, this is assessed to be a recent infection as he is symptomatic," said MOH.

It added that the patient's first dose of vaccine on Jan 27 would account for his positive serology test as he is likely to have started producing antibodies following his vaccination.

MOH said that as the vaccine does not contain any live virus, he could not have been infected from the vaccination.

"It is possible for one to be infected just before or just after vaccination as it typically takes a few weeks for an individual to build up immunity after completing vaccination," the ministry said.

The other unlinked community case is a 49-year-old bus driver who transports individuals on stay-home notice from Changi Airport to the dedicated facilities. His bus is disinfected after every trip, added MOH.

New cases: 22

Imported: 20 (4 Singaporeans, 3 permanent residents, 2 dependant's pass holders, 3 work pass holders, 7 work permit holders, 1 short-term visit pass holder)

In community: 2 (1 Singaporean, 1 work pass holder)

In dormitories: 0

New community cases in the past week: 4 (4 unlinked cases)

Active cases: 208

In hospitals: 44 (1 in ICU)

In community facilities: 164

Deaths: 29

Patients with Covid-19 who died from other causes: 15

Total discharged: 59,469

Discharged yesterday: 51

TOTAL CASES: 59,721

The patient, who works at Cobb & Coach Services, developed a runny nose on Jan 31 but did not seek medical attention. He was detected when he was tested last Friday as part of RRT.

MOH added that his earlier tests from RRT - the last being on Jan 23 - were negative for Covid-19 infection and his serology test is also negative, indicating that this is likely a current infection.

There were also 20 imported cases confirmed by the ministry, taking Singapore's total to 59,721.

They tested positive while serving stay-home notice after their arrival in Singapore, said MOH.

FairPrice Xtra at Kallang Wave Mall and Punggol Plaza are among places visited by Covid-19 patients while they were still infectious, said the ministry.

Singapore has had 29 deaths from Covid-19 complications, while 15 who tested positive have died of other causes.