Airport worker one of 2 new cases of Omicron detected here

Two new cases of the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus have been detected in Singapore. One of them is a front-line worker at Changi Airport - the first local case - and the other is imported, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) yesterday.

The front-line worker is a Singaporean, 24, who is a passenger service staff member at Changi Airport Terminals 1 and 3, and the transit holding area. She did not work at Terminal 4 where three cases of Omicron infections had visited earlier.

She was tested on Wednesday as part of weekly Covid-19 testing for border front-line workers and her polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test result showed traces linked to the Omicron variant. Tests are under way to confirm the variant.

The second case is a 46-year-old permanent resident who returned to Singapore from Germany on Monday. Her pre-departure test in France on Saturday and PCR test in Singapore on Monday were negative for the coronavirus, but she developed a runny nose a day later and sought medical attention.

She tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday and was confirmed to have signs of the Omicron strain the next day.

Contact tracing for both cases is under way and all close contacts will be placed on a 10-day quarantine at designated facilities and undergo testing, said MOH.

All airport staff are already PCR-tested every week and they will undergo daily antigen rapid tests for the next seven days as an additional precautionary measure, MOH added.