23 new COVID cases in Singapore; 2 in community including 82-year-old man
SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed 23 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore on Wednesday (3 March), taking the country's total case count to 59,979.
There are two unlinked local transmissions in the community, including an 82-year-old Singaporean man, while the remaining 21 cases are imported.
"Amongst the new cases today, 22 are asymptomatic, and were detected from our proactive screening and surveillance, while one was symptomatic," said the MOH.
The 82-year-old man – who is a retiree and Wednesday's sole symptomatic case – developed a runny nose, body aches, and chills on 14 February.
He sought medical treatment at a General Practitioner clinic on 22 February and was tested for COVID-19 but his results came back negative.
On 1 March, the man sought medical treatment again as he was still feeling unwell, and was swabbed for COVID-19. His test came back positive for COVID-19 the next day, and he was conveyed in an ambulance to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID).
His serological test result has come back negative, indicating that this is likely a current infection.
"While he had registered for COVID-19 vaccination on 22 February, he did not proceed with vaccination on his appointment date as he had been advised earlier by his doctor to postpone vaccination if he was feeling unwell," said the MOH.
The other community case is a 38-year-old female permanent resident who is a homemaker. She was detected when she took a COVID-19 pre-departure test on 2 March in preparation for a trip to India.
The woman's result came back positive for COVID-19 the next day and she was conveyed to the NCID in an ambulance.
Her serological test result is pending. Epidemiological investigations are ongoing, while all the identified close contacts of the cases, including their family members and co-workers, have been isolated and placed on quarantine. They will be tested at the start and end of their quarantine period.
Serological tests will also be conducted on them to determine if the cases could have been infected by them.
UPDATE: 23 new COVID cases in Singapore; 2 in community including 82-year-old manhttps://t.co/UbgHVVZePa pic.twitter.com/i8gcuRPT1D
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Among the 21 imported cases, one is a PR who arrived from Indonesia. The remaining 20 cases are work pass holders who arrived from India, Nepal, and Nigeria.
The MOH noted that the number of new cases in the community has increased from two in the week before to four in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also increased from none in the week before to four in the past week.
Separately, the ministry also added several places to the list of public venues visited by community cases while they were infectious. The places, visited between 26 February and 2 March, are Ang Mo Supermarket and GHK 407 Food House at 407 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10, Sri Vadapathira Kaliamman Temple at 555 Serangoon Road. Murugan Idli Shop at 76 Syed Alwi Road and Mustafa Centre.
99% of total cases have recovered, 1 in ICU
With seven more patients discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities on Wednesday, 59,849 cases – or 99.8 per cent of the total – have fully recovered from the infection.
Most of the 18 hospitalised cases are stable or improving, with one of them in the intensive care unit.
A total of 83 patients – with mild symptoms or are clinically well but still test positive – are isolated and cared for at community facilities.
Apart from 29 patients who have died from COVID-19 complications, 15 others who tested positive for the virus were determined to have died from unrelated causes, including three whose deaths were attributed to a heart attack and another four, whose deaths were attributed to coronary heart disease.
Amongst the 89 confirmed cases reported from 25 February to 3 March, 35 cases have tested positive for their serology tests, 26 have tested negative, and 28 serology test results are pending.
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