Sole local case is hubby of SIA crew member who tested positive

The husband of a Singapore Airlines cabin crew member who had previously tested positive for Covid-19 was the sole community case yesterday, said the Ministry of Health (MOH).

The 48-year-old Singaporean man works as an events planner but has not been to work since Feb 1.

He was quarantined on Feb 9 after his wife tested positive for the virus, but he tested negative when swabbed then.

He lost his sense of smell on Feb 15 during his quarantine period but did not report his symptom.

Last Saturday, he developed a fever and self-medicated without informing MOH.

He was tested the next day as part of MOH's protocol for quarantined individuals and tested positive for Covid-19.

His serological test has come back negative, indicating that he is likely to have a current infection.

He has also been tested for the B117 strain, the coronavirus variant first identified in Britain, as his wife tested positive for that. The result is pending.

"Individuals on quarantine or SHN (stay-home notice) are required to declare any symptoms promptly, and to report their health status to MOH every day. They are provided with a list of Covid-19 symptoms to look out for, as well as reporting instructions, at the start of their isolation period," said MOH. "We remind these individuals to be socially responsible and to report their symptoms promptly, even if these are early or mild," it added.

His wife, a 41-year-old Singaporean, also did not seek medical attention after losing her sense of smell and tested positive after a routine swab on Feb 7.

She had just received her first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine a few days prior to testing positive.

  • Update on cases

  • New cases: 10

    Imported: 9 (2 Singaporeans, 3 dependant's pass holders, 1 work pass holder, 3 work permit holders)

    In community: 1 (1 Singaporean)

    In dormitories: 0

    New community cases in the past week: 2 (1 unlinked case)

    Active cases: 104 In hospitals: 19 (1 in ICU)

    In community facilities: 85

    Deaths: 29

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

    Total discharged: 59,731

    Discharged yesterday: 15

    TOTAL CASES: 59,879

There were also nine imported cases confirmed by MOH yesterday among a total of 10 new cases, bringing Singapore's tally up to 59,879.

Two of these were Singaporeans who returned from Indonesia and Britain. Three were dependant's pass holders who came from India, Indonesia and the United States, while another was a work pass holder arriving from the Philippines.

The last three were work permit holders coming from Indonesia and Myanmar.

The number of new cases in the community has decreased to two cases in the past week from five the week before. The number of unlinked cases in the community has decreased from two cases to one over the same period.

With 15 cases discharged yesterday, 59,731 patients have fully recovered from the disease.

A total of 19 patients remain in hospital, including one in critical condition in the intensive care unit while 85 are recuperating in community facilities.

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

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on February 23, 2021, with the headline Sole local case is hubby of SIA crew member who tested positive. Subscribe