Eight local cases of Covid-19 variants detected in S'pore

Eight local cases of Covid-19 variants have been detected as at Tuesday, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said yesterday, adding that necessary public health actions were taken promptly.

Seven of these cases are of the B117 variant - commonly known as the British variant - and one is of the B1351 or South African variant.

The single B1351 case works in the marine industry and was exposed to potentially infectious sources from ships visiting Singapore, said MOH, which added that all his close dormitory and workplace contacts have been placed on quarantine.

The seven cases with the British variant have been isolated and ring-fenced.

There was transmission to members of the same household for three out of the eight cases, but no further community spread has been detected, MOH's director of medical services Kenneth Mak said at a briefing yesterday by the task force tackling the pandemic.

Singapore has also detected 342 imported cases of travellers from various countries carrying Covid-19 variants.

Of these, 155 are of the British variant and 130 of the South African variant. Another 46 are of the B1617 or Indian variant, five are of the B1525 variant, and four of a Brazilian strain known as P1 (B11281). Two other Brazilian strains - P2 (B11282) and P3 (B11283) - have infected one imported case each.

"All these cases have already been placed on stay-home notice or isolated upon arrival in Singapore," said Associate Professor Mak. "We have not detected any further community spread for any of these other variants of interest.

"We continue to test all cases of Covid-19 infection that we have detected. But as more cases are reported, more testing is done, these numbers will change over time. and in the future we may provide further updates," he added.

The South African, British and Brazilian P1 strains have been labelled "variants of concern" by the World Health Organisation.

Asked if there is cause for concern over new variants - the "double-mutant" B1617 strain, for instance, is behind a deadly second wave in India - Prof Mak said: "There is emerging evidence that some of the viral variants of concern may have an increased risk of breakthrough but yet, at the same time, for many other variants, this has not been seen.

"The data for the double-mutant variant... is still emerging and we are monitoring the situation closely to see whether this would be a concern for us in relation to travellers coming to Singapore, and that risk of imported cases."