SINGAPORE - Four new coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Singapore, with three linked to the Wizlearn Technologies cluster, said the Ministry of Health on Sunday (March 1).
There are now 11 cases linked to the e-learning solutions company at Science Park II that emerged as a new coronavirus cluster last Friday.
Of the new cases, two are Singaporeans, one is a Myanmar national and the last one is a Japanese. The first three cases have no recent travel history to China, or to Daegu city and Cheongdo county in South Korea, while contact tracing is ongoing to determine if the Japanese patient has any links to the affected areas or previous cases.
The new infections bring the total number of confirmed cases here to 106. Meanwhile, two more patients have been discharged, bringing the total number of fully recovered to 74, MOH said.
Two of the four new cases, 103 and 104, are linked to Case 93, a 38-year-old employee of Wizlearn Technologies. Case 93 was confirmed to be infected with Covid-19 on Feb 26.
The two new cases linked to him had earlier said that they did not have any recent illnesses and was thus issued home quarantine orders. But they subsequently revealed on Saturday that they had in fact experienced symptoms prior to receiving the quarantine orders.
The first, Case 103, is a 37-year-old female Singapore citizen who has no recent travel history to China, Daegu and Cheongdo but had been in Batam from Feb 21 to 23. She is currently warded in an isolation room at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID). She is a family member of Case 93, and is linked to Case 101.
She was identified as a close contact of case 93 and as she had not reported any recent illness, she was issued a home quarantine order on Feb 26.
But on Feb 29, she revealed that she had an onset of symptoms on Feb 20 and had sought treatment at a general practitioner clinic on Feb 25. She was then immediately sent to NCID in an ambulance and isolated. Subsequent test results confirmed the Covid-19 infection on Sunday morning.
Before being admitted to hospital, she had been going to work at Asia Asset Recovery at 2019 Bukit Batok Industrial Park A. She stays at Bukit Batok Street 31.
Case 104 is a 25-year-old female Myanmar national who has no recent travel history to China, Daegu and Cheongdo but had been in Batam from Feb 21 to 23. She is a foreign domestic worker employed by Case 103. She is currently warded in an isolation room at the NCID.
Similarly to Case 103, she had been issued a home quarantine order on Feb 26 after she was identified as a close contact of Case 93 but without any recent reported illness.
But on Feb 29, she revealed she had onset of symptoms on Feb 23. She was immediately sent to NCID in an ambulance and was isolated, with test results confirming the infection on Sunday morning.
Prior to hospital admission, she had mostly stayed at home at Bukit Batok Street 31.
Case 105 is a 49-year-old male Singapore citizen who has no recent travel history to China, Daegu and Cheongdo. He is currently warded in an isolation room at the NCID. He is linked to the cluster at Wizlearn Technologies.
As he is linked to the cluster at Wizlearn Technologies and had not reported any recent illness, he was issued a home quarantine order on Feb 27. But on Feb 29, he revealed he had an onset of symptoms on Feb 26 and had sought treatment at a GP clinic on the same day.
He was immediately sent to NCID and subsequent test results confirmed the infection on Saturday morning.
Prior to hospital admission, he attended a business meeting at Toa Payoh Hub with Case 95. He stays at Upper Bukit Timah Road.
Case 106 is a 54-year-old male Japanese national who is a Singapore Work Pass holder. He was confirmed to have Covid-19 infection on Sunday morning and is currently warded in an isolation room at the NCID.
MOH said on Sunday that of the 32 confirmed cases still in hospital, most are stable while seven are in critical condition. To date, 3,133 close contacts have been quarantined, with 367 still serving it.
The other clusters that have emerged here are the Yong Thai Hang health products shop, the Grand Hyatt Singapore, a Seletar Aerospace Heights construction site, and the former clusters at Grace Assembly of God and the Life Church and Missions Singapore that are now considered one cluster, as a result of the earlier discovery of a missing link between the two.
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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.
