Vaccinated PR who cared for mother in quarantine facility among 5 Covid-19 community cases in S'pore

Singapore reported five new cases of locally transmitted Covid-19 infection on April 24, 2021. ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE

SINGAPORE - One of the five locally transmitted Covid-19 cases reported on Saturday (April 24) was a male Singapore permanent resident, 45, who was looking after his mother at a government quarantine facility.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) said he received his first dose of the vaccine on Feb 26 and the second dose on March 19.

His parents arrived from India on April 15, and his father tested positive upon arrival in Singapore and was admitted to a hospital.

His mother was placed in quarantine from April 16 to April 30 as she was identified as a close contact who was on the same flight as two dependant's pass holders who had arrived from India.

MOH said her son, the Singapore PR who is a senior executive at Wirana Shipping Corporation, had asked to care for his mother at the quarantine facility.

She tested negative on April 15 and 17.

He moved into the same room as her on April 16, and developed a blocked nose on Friday (April 23). He was then taken to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases on Saturday.

MOH said while the Covid-19 vaccine was effective in preventing symptomatic disease for the vast majority, it was still possible for vaccinated individuals to get infected.

"Further research is required to determine if the vaccination will also prevent onward transmission of the infection," it said.

The other four locally transmitted cases of Covid-19 reported on Saturday were close contacts of a previously confirmed case, a 39-year-old Indonesian man who was a sea crew member on board a bunker tanker.

This means a new cluster has been formed.

He had preliminary tested positive on April 16 for the B117 variant that was originally reported by the United Kingdom and is said to be more contagious.

MOH said the four new infected cases were sea crew working on board bunker tanker MT ALLI and had not disembarked from the vessel except to go for Covid-19 testing or vaccination.

Two of the four received the first dose of their vaccines on April 7 and April 15.

MOH said: "As it typically takes a few weeks for an individual to build immunity after completing vaccination, they were likely to have been infected before they were conferred protection after vaccination."

All five new local cases had already been placed under quarantine earlier, said MOH.

There were also 18 imported cases, who had already been placed on stay-home notice upon arrival in Singapore, bringing Saturday's total cases to 23.

This brings Singapore's total number of Covid-19 cases to 60,966.

Singapore has had 30 deaths from Covid-19 complications, while 15 who tested positive have died of other causes.

Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.