Indonesian domestic worker is sole Covid-19 community case

A traveller with his luggage at Changi Airport Terminal 3 in November 2020. ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN

SINGAPORE - An Indonesian female domestic worker was the sole new coronavirus case in the community announced on Saturday (March 6).

The 35-year-old arrived in Singapore on Jan 20 and served her stay-home notice (SHN) at a dedicated facility until Feb 3.

Both her pre-departure test taken on Jan 18 in Indonesia as well as her swab done on Feb 2 were negative for Covid-19.

She is asymptomatic, and only tested positive when she took another pre-departure test on March 4, this time in preparation for her return to Indonesia.

She was then taken to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases in an ambulance.

Another test by the National Public Health Laboratory (NPHL) on March 5 came back negative.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) said as they were unable to definitively confirm her date of infection, they would take all necessary public health actions as a precautionary measure, including placing all her identified close contacts on quarantine.

There were also 12 imported cases announced on Saturday.

All of them had been placed on stay-home notice on arrival in Singapore, said the MOH.

Saturday's new cases take Singapore's total to 60,020.

Of the 12 imported cases, one is a Singaporean who returned from Indonesia and another a permanent resident who returned from Malaysia.

There were two dependant's pass holders and one work pass holder from India.

Seven were work permit holders from India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and the Philippines, of which three were foreign domestic workers.

The number of new cases in the community has remained stable at four cases per week in the past two weeks.

The number of unlinked cases in the community has increased from two cases in the week before to three cases in the past week

With nine cases discharged on Saturday, 59,864 patients have fully recovered from the disease.

A total of 22 patients remain in hospital while 90 are recuperating in community facilities.

One is in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

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

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