Private hospital and PUB staff among 9 new coronavirus cases in Singapore; 2-year-old among recovered patients

SINGAPORE - Nine new cases of the coronavirus disease, Covid-19, were confirmed on Friday (Feb 14), including a healthcare worker and six patients linked to the Grace Assembly of God church.

The cluster is now the largest in Singapore with 13 patients. The first two patients there tested positive on Feb 11.

None of the new cases has recent travel history to China and all nine are Singaporeans.

Meanwhile, two previously announced cases have recovered and were discharged on Friday, including a two-year-old girl who was one of 92 Singaporeans evacuated from Wuhan on a specially arranged Scoot flight on Jan 30.

The other is a 27-year-old man who attended a business meeting at the Grand Hyatt Singapore last month.

Here are the details of the new cases:

Case 59 is a 61-year-old doctor who works at a private hospital and fell sick on Feb 7.

He has not been to work since he fell ill and has no known interactions with past cases.

He sought treatment at Farrer Park Hospital's emergency care clinic on Monday and at the emergency department at Mount Elizabeth Hospital on Wednesday. 

On Thursday, he was transferred to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) and tested positive for the virus on the same day.

Before being hospitalised, he mostly stayed in his home in Wilkinson Road.

Cases 60, 61, 62, 63, 66 and 67 are linked to the Grace Assembly of God church.

They include four women, aged 44, 51, 54 and 56, and two men, aged 28 and 57.

Case 63, the 54-year-old woman, is an employee of Singapore's water agency PUB.

The administrative staff member works in the Environment Building and is not involved in PUB's plant or field operations, PUB said on Friday.

Case 64 is a 50-year-old Singaporean man with no travel history to China. No other details about him were available.

Case 65 is a 61-year-old woman who is a family member of Case 50, the 62-year-old male DBS Bank employee who was confirmed on Wednesday to have been infected.

Another family member, a 30-year-old man who is case 55, is also linked to this group.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.

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