Yong Thai Hang medical shop and Grand Hyatt Covid-19 clusters no longer active

Both the Yong Thai Hang health products shop and Grand Hyatt Singapore clusters have not been linked to new Covid-19 cases in more than 28 days. ST PHOTOS: KEVIN LIM, ONG WEE JIN

SINGAPORE - Two of Singapore's earliest detected coronavirus clusters have officially been closed and are no longer considered active, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said.

MOH director of medical services Kenneth Mak said on Tuesday (March 10) that both the Yong Thai Hang health products shop and Grand Hyatt Singapore clusters have not been linked to new Covid-19 cases in more than 28 days.

A check by The Straits Times found that all 12 cases linked to the two clusters have recovered and been discharged from hospital.

Both locations had gone through two periods of incubation, each lasting 14 days.

Yong Thai Hang, a medical shop in Cavan Road, was the first local cluster to be discovered in Singapore. The first case linked to the store was Case 19 - a 28-year-old female sales staff member at the store, who was confirmed to have the virus on Feb 3.

Nine cases in total, including a six-month-old baby boy whose mother is Case 19, were linked to the shop.

The Grand Hyatt cluster had three cases in total, including a 27-year-old Singaporean man who was the first local case from the cluster. He was confirmed to have the virus on Feb 6.

The other two cases were a 51-year-old Singaporean man and a 38-year-old female permanent resident.

All three local cases had attended a business conference organised by British company Servomex from Jan 20 to 22 at the hotel, from which four overseas cases also emerged.

As of Wednesday morning, Singapore has had a total of 166 cases of the coronavirus, of which 93 have fully recovered and been discharged from hospital. Twelve are in critical condition and in intensive care.

There are now four active clusters of locally transmitted cases here. The largest involves a Chinese New Year dinner celebration at the Joy Garden Restaurant at Safra Jurong on Feb 15. The cluster is linked to 39 cases.

The other clusters are from Wizlearn Technologies and a Seletar Aerospace Heights construction site. The fourth involves the clusters at Grace Assembly of God and the Life Church and Missions Singapore, which are now considered one cluster after the two were found to be linked.

Although Yong Thai Hang and Grand Hyatt are no longer considered active clusters, both locations have not yet fully recovered from the effects of the outbreak.

When The Straits Times visited Grand Hyatt Singapore on Wednesday afternoon, the hotel lobby was almost devoid of guests although there were four or five employees at the check-in counter.

Asked about the hotel no longer being deemed an active cluster, Grand Hyatt Singapore hotel manager Parveen Kumar said: "We are certainly very delighted our implementation of various precautionary measures has led us to this positive outcome, and we will continue to remain vigilant and steadfast in following the guidelines recommended by international and local authorities."

Health products store Yong Thai Hang was closed when The Straits Times visited the store on Wednesday and could not be reached for comment.

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