SINGAPORE, Jan 8 — Singapore reported 33 new cases of Covid-19 yesterday, of which two are in the community.

The other 31 cases are imported and have been placed on stay-home notices or isolated upon arrival in Singapore, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in a press statement.

The two community cases are unlinked with no known source of infection.

The first case is a 43-year-old Malaysian woman, a work permit holder who works at Azur buffet restaurant in Crowne Plaza Changi Airport hotel. MOH said that as part of her duties, she delivers pre-packed meals to air crew and hotel guests and she does not interact with diners at Azur.

She developed symptoms while at work on January 3, and sought medical treatment at a general practitioner clinic on January 5 where she was tested for Covid-19.

Her result came back positive the next day, and she was taken in an ambulance to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.

Her serological test for past infection is negative, which indicates that hers is likely a current infection.

Preliminary investigations also reveal that she is probably not infected with the B117 strain, MOH said. Her earlier tests from Rostered Routine Testing — the last being on December 31 — had been negative for Covid-19.

It was reported on Wednesday that a 24-year-old Korean work permit holder who works at the Azur buffet restaurant tested positive for the virus. Similarly, he delivers pre-packed meals to air crew and hotel guests.

He tested preliminarily positive for the B117 strain and is pending further confirmatory tests.

Following the detection of these two unlinked cases, MOH said that as a precautionary measure, Crowne Plaza Changi Airport will be closed for 14 days from January 8 to 12.

The hotel will stop accepting new guests, and foreign air crew staying at the hotel will be moved to another dedicated facility.

The second community case yesterdayis a 63-year-old Singaporean man who works as a cargo operator at AirMark Aviation. He is based at Dnata Cargo Centre at 45 Airport Cargo Road.

His duties include handling loading and unloading of cargo for My Indo Airlines. MOH said that he does not interact with flight passengers.

He developed acute respiratory infection symptoms on January 4, and sought treatment at Changi General Hospital on January 6 where he was confirmed to be positive for Covid-19 on the same day and was warded. MOH said that his serological test result is pending. 

Before hospitalisation, the man had gone to work after he developed symptoms.

Epidemiological investigations are ongoing.

For the 31 imported cases, MOH said that 30 had already been placed on stay-home notice upon arrival in Singapore. They include:

Four Singaporeans and three permanent residents

Three dependant’s pass holders who arrived from India

Two work pass holders who arrived from India and the United Arab Emirates

Nineteen work permit holders from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Myanmar. Of these, 12 are foreign domestic workers

The one imported case that was not placed on stay-home notice arrived from Bangladesh on December 22 but could not clear immigration due to incomplete documentation, MOH said. He was held at a facility located at the airport’s transit area until December 24, when the issues were resolved, and later taken to a dedicated facility to serve his stay-home notice.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has increased from seven cases in the week before to nine cases in the past week.

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

Updates on remaining cases

The total number of infections in Singapore is now 58,813.Of these, 58,562 people have fully recovered and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities, including 21 yesterday.

There are still 61 patients in hospitals and most are in stable condition or improving, except for one who is in intensive care.

Another 161 patients are isolated at community facilities. They have mild symptoms or are clinically well but still tested positive for Covid-19.Twenty-nine people have died from complications due to the disease. — TODAY