4 places added to COVID list of venues, including Seoul Garden outlet visited by 1st local case in 16 days

SINGAPORE — Three shopping malls were among the additions made by the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Thursday (26 November) to a list of places visited by COVID-19 community cases while infectious.

This include Tampines Mall’s Seoul Garden outlet, which was visited on 21 November from 5.45pm to 8.55pm by a 32-year-old Singaporean man who works as a service engineer at Master Systems Marine.

He was identified on Thursday as the first local transmission – an unlinked community case – in 16 days.

The three other venues that were visited are Wisteria Mall on 14 November from 7.15pm to 7.50pm, Northpoint City’s Jinjja Chicken outlet on the following day from 5.10pm to 5.50pm, and a Mr Prata branch at 476 Tampines Street 44 on 23 November from 12.10pm to 12.45pm.

The man had dinner with 12 family members at the Seoul Garden outlet and developed a fever and sore throat two days after on Monday night.

He was conveyed in an ambulance to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases the following day when his test for COVID-19 came back positive.

During the dinner at the buffet restaurant, the family had occupied three tables and intermingled between groups. Investigations are ongoing on whether there had been any breach of safe management measures.

All of the man’s identified close contacts, including his family members at the dinner, have been isolated and placed on quarantine and will be tested at the start and end of their quarantine period, it added.

Those who had been identified as close contacts of confirmed cases would already have been notified, said the MOH.

As a precautionary measure, visitors who had been at these locations during the specified timings should monitor their health closely for 14 days from their date of visit, it added.

They should see a doctor if they develop symptoms of acute respiratory infection – such as cough, sore throat and runny nose – as well as fever and loss of taste or smell, and inform the doctor of their exposure history.

Individuals may access the SafeEntry Location Matching Self-Check service via the TraceTogether App, SingPass Mobile, or at wereyouthere.safeentry.gov.sg to check whether they were at these locations during the specified timings, based on their own SafeEntry records.

“There is no need to avoid places where confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been. The National Environment Agency will engage the management of affected premises to provide guidance on cleaning and disinfection,” the ministry added.

The list of visited public venues excludes residence, workplaces, healthcare facilities, and public transport and will be updated on a rolling 14-days basis, or one incubation period, and as epidemiological investigations progress.

Singapore now has 58,195 cases, of which 99.8 per cent have recovered, and 28 related fatalities.

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