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13 new cases in community, including two hospital staff

This article is more than 12 months old

There were 13 new cases of Covid-19 reported in the community yesterday, two of whom are hospital staff.

The first is a 42-year-old operating theatre technician at Ng Teng Fong General Hospital, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) last night. His infection is currently unlinked.

He had returned from Malaysia on Jan 10 and served a stay-home notice until Jan 24 and tested negative for the virus then.

He developed a cough on April 21 but did not seek medical treatment until May 10, when he tested positive at the hospital's staff clinic.

SEROLOGY TEST

MOH said that as his Ct value was very high and his serology test has come back positive, it is possible that he is no longer infectious.

"However, given that we are not able to definitively conclude when he had been infected, we will take all the necessary public health actions as a precautionary measure," it added.

The second is a 43-year-old housekeeper at Changi General Hospital who has preliminarily tested positive for the B1617 variant of the virus first detected in India.

She was quarantined on May 8 after being identified as a close contact of a previous case and developed a cough the next day.

She was fully vaccinated.

Her infection has been linked to the cluster surrounding a cleaner working at Changi Airport Terminal 3. She was one of seven reported cases linked to the cluster yesterday.

A previously reported case - an 18-year-old student at Victoria Junior College - has also been linked to the cluster, bringing its total number of patients up to 18, said MOH.

It has determined that the student was at the foodcourt in Changi Airport Terminal 3 on May 3 - the same day that two other Covid-positive patients were there. It said that she is likely to have been infected then.

Yesterday's unlinked cases also included a 50-year-old man who works part-time as a barista at Starbucks in Plaza Singapura and as a general worker at LBC Express in Lucky Plaza.

He developed a cough and shortness of breath on May 6 but did not seek medical treatment.

On May 8, he went to a general practitioner clinic where he was tested for Covid-19 the next day. He had received one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine on April 24.

There were also 12 imported cases for a total of 25, which brings Singapore's total up to 61,403 - with 11 active clusters. 

This article first appeared in The Straits Times.


By the numbers

25
New cases

13
New cases in community

12
Imported cases

61,403
Total cases

31
Deaths

22
Discharged yesterday

144
In hospital

60,960
Total recovered

coronavirus