A 35-year-old female Indian national who was recently tested positive for the COVID-19 virus had previously completed her stay-home notice (SHN) at a dedicated facility, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Wednesday (3 Feb), adding that the case may be reclassified as an imported case.
The Ministry reported 18 new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, one of which is in the community.
It noted that the community case involved a female Indian national, who is a long-term visit pass holder.
The patient had travelled to India on 30 November last year, and returned to Singapore on 6 January.
Her pre-departure test taken in India on 4 January before her flight to Singapore came back negative.
Upon her return, she served an SHN at a dedicated facility between 6 January and 20 January. The MOH said that the patient swab done on 17 January was negative for the virus.
The Ministry noted that the patient was found to be asymptomatic and was only detected when she took a COVID-19 pre-departure test on 2 February ahead of her flight back to India.
She was tested positive the following day (3 Feb) and was taken to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
However, the MOH stated that her case may be reclassified as an imported case as her serology test result is pending.
“We have classified this case as locally transmitted while her serology test result is pending.
“Should her serology test come back positive, and epidemiological investigations assess that this is a past infection, we will reclassify this as an imported case,” it said.
Meanwhile, all the identified close contacts of the woman – including her family members – have been isolated and placed under quarantine.
The MOH noted that they will be tested for the virus at the start and end of their quarantine period to detect asymptomatic cases.
“We will also conduct serological tests for the close contacts to determine if the case could have been infected by them,” it added.
