A Singapore Airlines cabin crew member who works as a part-time private-hire driver with Grab was the sole Covid-19 case in the community confirmed yesterday, said the Ministry of Health (MOH).
There were also four new imported cases, taking Singapore's total to 58,529.
The community case is a 48-year-old Singaporean man who is asymptomatic and was detected through proactive testing arranged by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore for air crew who returned from overseas flights. He had travelled to the United States on duty from Dec 12 to 16 on a controlled itinerary, said MOH.
He was tested last Wednesday, but his test result came back inconclusive two days later. This necessitated a second test that same day, which was also inconclusive.
He had remained at home while awaiting further tests.
On Sunday, his swab came back positive for Covid-19 infection and he was taken in an ambulance to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases on the same day.
His serological test result is negative, which indicates a likely current infection.
The cabin crew on the same US flight as him all tested negative for Covid-19 infection last Wednesday.
MOH added that it has classified the case as locally transmitted due to the relatively long time interval between the patient's travel and his positive Covid-19 test, and that epidemiological investigations are in progress.
All the identified close contacts of the patient, including his family members and co-workers, have been isolated and placed on quarantine. They will be tested at the start and end of their quarantine period so that MOH can detect asymptomatic cases.
The ministry will also conduct serological tests for the close contacts to determine if the patient could have been infected by them.
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Update on cases
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New cases: 5
Imported: 4 (3 Singaporeans, 1 dependant's pass holder)
In community: 1 (Singaporean)
In dormitories: 0
New community cases in the past week: 1 (1 unlinked case)
Active cases: 114
In hospitals: 35 (0 in ICU)
In community facilities: 79
Deaths: 29
Patients with Covid-19 who died from other causes: 15
Total discharged: 58,371
Discharged yesterday: 16
TOTAL CASES: 58,529
Meanwhile, a restaurant in Upper Paya Lebar Road has been added to the places visited by Covid-19 patients while they were still infectious.
Yu Cun Claypot Curry Fish Head was visited by a patient on Dec 18 between 1.25pm and 2.25pm.
MOH provides the list of locations that infectious Covid-19 patients visited for at least 30 minutes and the times they visited them to get people who were at those places at the same time to monitor their health closely for two weeks from the date of their visit. The full list of locations and times can be found on the gov.sg website.
MOH has said close contacts would already have been notified and that there is no need to avoid those places as they would have been cleaned if necessary.
Of the four imported cases, three are Singaporeans who returned from India, Myanmar and the United Kingdom. The remaining case is a dependant's pass holder who arrived from India. They were all placed on stay-home notices (SHN) or isolated upon arrival in Singapore, and were tested while serving SHN or under isolation.
Overall, the number of new cases in the community has remained low, with a total of one case in the past week who is currently unlinked.
With 16 cases discharged yesterday, 58,371 patients have fully recovered from the disease.
A total of 35 Covid-19 patients remain in hospital, with none in intensive care, while 79 are recuperating in community facilities.
Singapore has had 29 deaths from Covid-19 complications, while 15 who tested positive have died of other causes.
