Yahoo Finance More COVID-19 measures may be necessary as community cases rise: Lawrence Wong
SINGAPORE — The government is monitoring the COVID-19 situation carefully and considering if additional measures are necessary to ensure it remains under control amid a rise in community cases in recent days, said Education Minister Lawrence Wong on Monday night (18 January).
“For the first time in several months we have a local cluster linked to a police para-vet. Unfortunately there were also several recent cases who did not seek medical treatment despite falling ill with flu-like symptoms,” said Wong in a post on his Facebook page.
The co-chair of the multI-ministerial taskforce on COVID-19 was referring to the “case 59280” cluster, named after the para-vet’s case number, which now has six cases linked to it.
On Monday, the Ministry of Health (MOH) reported two more cases in the community – the fifth day in a row where new community infections are reported.
Both community cases are linked to a 44-year-old Singaporean man who works as an administrative officer at the Singapore Police Force's K-9 Unit at its headquarters. They are his wife, a 43-year-old Singaporean woman and homemaker, and a family member, a 66-year-old Malaysian woman.
The man and another family member, a 44-year-old Singaporean woman, were confirmed as cases on Sunday. They were identified as being linked to a 32-year-old Singaporean man who works as a para-vet at the K-9 Unit.
The para-vet himself was confirmed to have COVID-19 on 13 January and his wife was also confirmed to have the disease two days later.
Wong said contact tracers are working hard to identify all the possible contacts, ring-fence the potential cases and prevent them from spreading further.
“Meanwhile please cooperate with all the safe management measures - wear your masks, see a doctor when sick, and do your part to reduce transmission risks. The virus is still circulating silently within our community and we cannot afford to let our guard down.”
According to the MOH, the 43-year-old Singaporean woman, 66-year-old Malaysian woman, the 44-year-old Singaporean man, and another family member, a 44-year-old Singaporean woman, had not sought treatment despite showing COVID-19 symptoms.
Stay in the know on-the-go: Join Yahoo Singapore's Telegram channel at http://t.me/YahooSingapore
Related stories:
14 new COVID cases in Singapore, including 2 linked to para-vet cluster
COVID-19: All travellers to be tested upon arrival in Singapore, including citizens and PRs
