As of 20 February 2020, 12 pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and
verified one more case of COVID-19 infection in Singapore. Contact tracing is
underway to establish any links to previous cases or travel history to China.
This brings the total number of cases to 85 so far.
About the confirmed cases
Case 85
Case 85 is a 36 year-old male Chinese national who is a Singapore Work Pass
holder, and has no recent travel history to China. He was confirmed to have COVID19 infection on 20 February morning, and is currently warded in an isolation room at
the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID).
Case 83 (Announced on 19 February)
Case 83 is a 54 year-old male Singapore Citizen with no recent travel history
to China, but who travels frequently to Malaysia for work purposes. He is currently
warded in an isolation room at NCID.
Case 84 (Announced on 19 February)
Case 84 is a 35 year-old female Singapore Citizen with no recent travel history
to China. She is currently warded in an isolation room at NCID. She is linked to Case
66.
Update on condition of confirmed cases
To date, a total of 37 cases have fully recovered from the infection and have
been discharged from the hospital. Of the 48 confirmed cases who are still in the hospital, most are stable or improving. Four are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.
Links between previous cases found
Further epidemiological investigations and contact tracing have uncovered links
between previously announced and new cases. This was made possible with the
assistance of the Singapore Police Force.
a) Four of the locally transmitted confirmed cases (Cases 31, 33, 38 and 83), as
well as Cases 8 and 9, are linked to The Life Church and Missions Singapore
(146B Paya Lebar Road).
b) Nine of the confirmed cases (Cases 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 27, 28, 34 and 40) are
linked to Yong Thai Hang (24 Cavan Road).
c) Three of the confirmed cases (Cases 30, 36 and 39) are linked to the private
business meeting held at Grand Hyatt Singapore from 20 to 22 January.
d) Five of the confirmed cases (Cases 42, 47, 52, 56 and 69) are linked to the
Seletar Aerospace Heights construction site.
e) 22 of the confirmed cases (Cases 48, 49, 51, 53, 54, 57, 58, 60, 61, 62, 63, 66,
67, 68, 70, 71, 73, 74, 78, 80, 81 and 84) are linked to the Grace Assembly of
God.
Investigations on these clusters are ongoing. In addition to the clusters, MOH’s
investigations have identified the following links between cases:
- Case 44 is linked to Cases 13 and 26;
- Case 72 is linked to Cases 59 and 79;
- Case 50 is linked to 55, 65 and 77; and
- Case 75 is linked to Case 41.
Contact tracing is underway for the other nine locally transmitted cases to establish any links to previous cases or travel history to mainland China.
Update on contact tracing for confirmed cases
Contact tracing for the confirmed cases is ongoing. Once identified, MOH will
closely monitor all close contacts. As a precautionary measure, they will be
quarantined for 14 days from their last exposure to the patient. In addition, all other
identified contacts who have a low risk of being infected will be under active
surveillance and will be contacted daily to monitor their health status.
As of 20 February 2020, 12 pm, MOH has identified 2,616 close contacts who
have been quarantined. Of these, 1,147 are currently quarantined, and 1,469 have
completed their quarantine.
At least 74,500 people have now been infected in China and around the world with a death toll of more than 2,110 that is mainly concentrated in China, Wuhan where the virus originated from.
