Sole community case is wife of retiree who tested positive, Latest Singapore News - The New Paper
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Sole community case is wife of retiree who tested positive

This article is more than 12 months old

An 81-year-old Singaporean woman was confirmed to have Covid-19, after her 82-year-old retiree husband became infected.

She was the sole coronavirus case in the community, out of 19 cases announced yesterday.

The woman had developed a fever and chills last Saturday but did not seek medical attention and recovered on the same day, said the Ministry of Health (MOH).

MOH added that the symptoms might have been due to the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, which the woman, also a retiree, had received last Friday.

As she was a close contact of her husband, she was placed on quarantine on Tuesday and tested for Covid-19 as part of MOH's protocol.

Her test result came back positive for Covid-19 infection the next day, and she was taken in an ambulance to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.

CURRENT INFECTION

The woman's serological test result is negative, indicating that this is likely a current infection.

As the vaccine does not contain live virus, she could not have been infected by it, said MOH.

"It is possible for one to be infected just before or just after vaccination as it typically takes a few weeks for an individual to build up immunity after completing vaccination," it added.

All the other cases announced yesterday were imported, taking Singapore's total to 59,998.

They comprised three Singaporeans, one permanent resident, one work pass holder, 11 work permit holders, one student's pass holder and one short-term visit pass holder.

All of them tested positive while serving stay-home notices after arriving in Singapore, said MOH. 

This article first appeared in The Straits Times.


By the numbers 

19 New cases

29 Death

1 New cases in community

8 Discharged yesterday

18 Imported cases

24 In hospital

59998 Total cases

59842 Total recovered

coronavirus