• There were 13 community cases and three of these have no known links to other confirmed Covid-19 cases
• Another seven were from the Changi Airport cluster
• The remaining three were a family member of a private-hire car driver with Grab, a relief school library assistant and a seafarer
• There were 12 imported cases and all had been placed on stay-home notice upon their arrival here
• Three patients are in critical condition

SINGAPORE — There were 25 new cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday (May 11), 13 of which were in the wider community. Of the 13 cases, three have no known links to other confirmed cases, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said.

The three cases with no known source of infection were:

• A 27-year-old Malaysian man who works as a manufacturing operator at Siltronic Singapore

• A 50-year-old Singapore permanent resident who works as an IT support staff at Kulicke & Soffa

• A 42-year-old Malaysian man who works as an operating theatre technician at Ng Teng Fong General Hospital

MOH said that the Siltronic Singapore employee has not gone to work after the onset of his symptoms.

He developed body aches on May 6 and sought medical treatment at a general practitioner (GP) clinic on the same day.

He was then given two days of medical leave.

On May 8, he developed a fever and cough and went to another GP clinic at night.

“He was tested for Covid-19 the next day, and his result came back positive on May 10. His serology test result (for past infection) is negative,” MOH said.

The permanent resident works part-time as a barista at Starbucks cafe in Plaza Singapura mall and a general worker at LBC Express Airfreight in Lucky Plaza mall.

The man — who had his first dose of the vaccine on April 24 — developed a cough and shortness of breath on May 6 but did not see a doctor.

On May 8, his symptoms persisted and he went to a GP clinic where he was tested for Covid-19 the next day.

His result came back on May 10 and that his serology test is negative.

The Ng Teng Fong General Hospital staff member developed a cough on April 21 but did not seek medical treatment, MOH said.

His cough worsened and on May 10, he sought medical treatment at the hospital’s staff clinic, where he was tested for Covid-19.

“His test result came back positive on the same day. His Ct value was very high, which is indicative of a low viral load and his serology test result has come back positive.

“He could be shedding minute fragments of the virus RNA from a past infection which are no longer transmissible and infective to others,” said MOH.

Earlier in the year, the technician returned to Singapore on Jan 10 after a trip to Malaysia and served his stay-home notice until Jan 24. His test taken during quarantine then was negative for the virus.

CHANGI AIRPORT CLUSTER

Of the other 10 community cases, seven have been linked to an 88-year-old cleaner deployed at Changi Airport Terminal 3, who was first discovered to have Covid-19 on May 5. 

They were:

1. A 63 year-old Singaporean man who is employed by Ramky Cleantech Services as a cleaner at Changi Airport Terminal 3.

He developed a cough and flu-like symptoms on May 7 at night but did not see a doctor. He was tested for Covid-19 on May 9 as part of MOH’s proactive testing of people working at Changi Airport Terminal 3, but did not report his symptoms when contacted by the ministry.

His test results came back positive for the coronavirus on May 10.

The man — who has been fully vaccinated — has tested preliminarily positive for the B1617 variant that originated in India.

2. A 55-year-old Singaporean woman who works at M171 Gourmet Street Coffeeshop and is the wife of a the wife of an aviation officer at Changi Airport Terminal 1 and Terminal 3.

She was placed on quarantine on May 7 and tested on May 9.

She was confirmed on May 10 to have contracted the virus.

3. A 43-year-old China national employed by EM Services and deployed as a housekeeper at Changi General Hospital. She is a household contact of a 51-year-old female work permit holder employed by Ramky Cleantech Services and working as a cleaner at Changi Airport Terminal 3.

The 43-year-old — who has been fully vaccinated — was placed on quarantine on May 8 and developed a cough the next day.

She was tested for Covid-19 and her result came back positive on May 10.

“She has tested preliminarily positive for the B1617 variant and is pending further confirmatory tests,” MOH said.

4. A 56-year-old Malaysian man who is a cleaner at Kopitiam food court at Changi Airport Terminal 3 and at Happy Hawkers coffee shop located at 267 Compassvale Link in Sengkang.

The man developed a cough and sore throat on May 9 and sought medical treatment after work at Changi General Hospital, where he was tested for Covid-19.

His result came back positive the next day.

5. A 46-year-old China national who is employed by Ramky Cleantech Services as a cleaner at Robinson 77 building along Shenton Way.

The woman was placed on quarantine on May 8 and developed a fever the next day.

“She was tested for Covid-19 on May 10 and her result came back positive on the same day. Her serology test result is pending.

“She has tested preliminarily positive for the B1617 variant and is pending further confirmatory tests,” MOH said.

6. A 40-year-old Malaysian man who is employed by Ramky Cleantech Services as a premises maintenance officer at Changi Airport Terminal 3.

He developed fatigue on May 8 and a cough the next day but did not seek medical treatment.

He was placed on quarantine on May 9 and reported his symptoms to MOH.

The man — who has been fully vaccinated — was tested for Covid-19 that same day and his result came back positive on May 10.

MOH said that the man has also tested preliminarily positive for the B1617 variant.

7. A 33-year-old Singaporean woman who works as an administrative staff member at SBY Frozen Food Supply but has been working from home for the past few months.

She developed a runny nose on May 9 and reported her symptom when she was contacted by MOH.

The woman was tested for Covid-19 on May 9 during quarantine and her test result came back positive the next day. Her serology test result is negative, MOH said.

As for the case of the 18-year-old female student at Victoria Junior College, MOH said that she is linked to the cluster at the airport. 

Its investigations found that the teenager had been at Raffles Medical clinic in Changi Airport Terminal 3 on April 23, April 30 and May 3.

She also visited the Kopitiam food court located at basement level two of Changi Airport Terminal 3 on May 3.

MOH said that two other confirmed cases had visited that same food court that day.

“She was likely to have been infected while she was at Changi Airport Terminal 3 on May 3,” it added.

THREE OTHER CASES LINKED TO PAST INFECTIONS

There were also three other cases on Tuesday that were linked to past infections.

They were:

1. A 72-year-old Singaporean man who is a family member of a private-hire car driver with Grab.

The retiree — who was fully vaccinated — was placed on quarantine on May 8 and developed a cough the next day but did not report his symptoms to MOH.

On May 10, the man was tested for Covid-19 during quarantine and his result came back positive the next day.

2. A 48-year-old Singaporean woman who works as a relief school library assistant but had not gone to work after the onset of symptoms. She is the wife of a landscaper at National Parks Board, MOH said.

The woman was placed on quarantine on May 8 and tested for the virus on May 10.

That same day, she developed a fever, cough and body aches and her test result came back positive on May 11.

3. A 54-year-old Indonesian man who is a seafarer working on board bunker tanker MT ALLI. He had not disembarked from the vessel except to be taken to a dedicated quarantine facility, MOH said.

The man was placed on quarantine on April 25 and was tested for the virus on May 9. His test result then came back positive for Covid-19.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has gone down from 63 in the week before to 40 in the past week.

The number of cases with no known links in the community has, however, increased from nine in the week before to 12 in the past week.

IMPORTED CASES

There were 12 imported cases of Covid-19 recorded on Tuesday and all had been placed on stay-home notice upon their arrival here, MOH said.

They were:

• Three Singaporeans and two permanent residents who returned from India, Malaysia and the United Kingdom

• One dependant's pass holder who came from Indonesia

• Three work pass holders who arrived from Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka

• One work permit holder who came from India

• Two short-term visit pass holders. One had arrived from Japan for a work project and the second from Indonesia to visit her family member

MOH stressed that the imported cases who had arrived from the Indian sub-continent had already come into Singapore before the restrictions on travellers from there were imposed recently.

UPDATE ON REMAINING CASES

The total number of infections in Singapore is now 61,403.

Of these, 60,975 people have fully recovered and been discharged, including 22 on Tuesday.

There are still 144 patients in hospitals. Of these, most are stable or improving, and three are in a critical condition.

Another 253 patients are isolated at community facilities. They have mild symptoms or are clinically well but still tested positive for Covid-19.

Thirty-one people have died from complications due to the disease.