SINGAPORE – A Singaporean who traveled to Indonesia with the Business Travel Pass was one of 12 newly imported Covid-19 cases announced Saturday (Dec. 5).
He is the second known person to have such a pass here to get infected. The previous patient was announced on Nov. 9 after returning from trips to the United Arab Emirates.
The pass was first announced by the Ministry of Health (MOH) on September 23, as part of a pilot for senior executives in Singapore with regional or international responsibilities who need to travel regularly for official and business purposes.
Travelers with this pass, which is not country-specific, are required to adhere to a strict, controlled itinerary when traveling abroad for work.
Upon return, they will be given the option to take a Covid-19 test instead of filing a home order, and to isolate themselves until the test results are known.
MOH said the patient who traveled to Indonesia with the Business Travel Pass underwent a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test when he returned to Singapore on Nov. 28, and isolated himself pending his test result. His test was negative.
When he developed symptoms on December 2, he was retested for Covid-19 in a family doctor clinic. Friday (December 4) it was confirmed that he has the coronavirus and is currently being isolated at the National Center for Infectious Diseases.
Prior to his hospitalization, he had started working at ASL Shipyard at 19 Pandan Road, but had not been in contact with his colleagues.
MOH noted that its serological test was negative, indicating a likely current infection.
All of his identified close contacts have been isolated and quarantined, the ministry said.
The 11 other imported cases had already been posted on Stay-Home Notice or isolated upon arrival in Singapore, MOH said.
There was also one locally transmitted case of the coronavirus. He is a Filipino crew member who arrived from the Philippines on the Normand Australis, which arrived at Tuas Port on November 18.
MOH said he had been quarantined in a government quarantine facility since Nov. 22, after close contact with another Covid-19 patient. He had not disembarked before that.
Before boarding, he took a Covid-19 pre-departure cotton swab on November 2, which came back negative.
All 18 crew were cleaned and quarantined as a precautionary measure on November 19.
The new cases bring Singapore’s total to 58,255.
Earlier in the day, MOH Seoul Garden in Tampines Mall had ordered the suspension of all operations for 10 days from Saturday for non-compliance with Covid-19’s safe control measures.
The ministry said it began an investigation after receiving information that a 32-year-old service technician had tested positive for Covid-19 after dining with 12 other family members at the restaurant on Nov. 21.
Although family members sat at separate tables of no more than five people, mixing between the tables had occurred.
With six cases discharged on Saturday, 58,143 patients have fully recovered from the disease.
A total of 26 patients remain in hospital, none in intensive care, while 42 are recovering in community facilities.
Singapore has had 29 deaths from Covid-19 complications, while 15 tested positive have died from other causes.
Source link