As of 12pm today (15 Apr), the Ministry of Health (MOH) has preliminarily confirmed 16 new cases of COVID-19 infection.

All of them are imported cases.

This brings the total number of cases in Singapore to 60,735.

Based on yesterday’s figures, the number of new cases in the community has remained stable at 2 cases per week in the past 2 weeks. The number of unlinked cases in the community has decreased from 2 cases in the week before to 1 case in the past week.

Sole Community Case on 14 Apr was a 44YO Man Who Tested Negative 4 Times

27 new COVID-19 infections were reported on Wednesday (14 Apr), of whom one was a case in the community.

The man is a Papua New Guinea national who arrived from Australia on 25 March for a work project here on a short-term visit pass.

The 44-year-old tested negative for COVID-19 on 23 March for his pre-departure test in Australia.

He tested negative once more on 25 March in his on-arrival test in Singapore.

He remained isolated until another COVID-19 test taken on 27 March came back negative.

The man was then placed on a controlled itinerary, which was largely limited to his place of work and accommodation.

Another test done on 31 March also came back negative for COVID-19.

Then, because had been identified as a close contact of two previous cases – Cases 61461 and 61470 – the 44-year-old was placed in quarantine at a dedicated facility.

He was tested for a fourth time on 2 Apr but once again, the result came back negative.

Since he was not exhibiting any symptoms, most would assume, quite reasonably, that the man had not a trace of the virus in his body.

But when he underwent the fifth test on 12 Apr, it came back positive the next day.

The man was taken to the hospital and underwent a serology test, the result for which is pending.

New Cluster Formed

Since the man tested negative for three consecutive tests after his arrival here, the Ministry of Health (MOH) believe this is not an imported infection.

“We have classified this case as locally transmitted as he had repeatedly tested negative for COVID-19 before Apr 12,” MOH said.

“He was likely to have been infected through his exposure to Cases 61461 and 61470 during the course of their work”.

Cases 61461 and 61470 are also Papua New Guinea nationals holding short-term visit passes. Both men, aged 54 and 30, arrived from Papua New Guinea on 27 Mar for work projects in Singapore.

Since all three men are linked to each other, they have formed a new COVID-19 cluster – the first since 25 March.

297 Active Cases

There are currently 61 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and 2 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

236 are isolated and cared for at community facilities. These are those who have mild symptoms, or are clinically well but still test positive for COVID-19.

30 have passed away from complications due to COVID-19 infection.

Featured Image: Rajaraman Arumugam / Shutterstock.com (Image is for illustration purpose only)