COVID: M'sian Man Among 23 Asymptomatic Imported Cases In Singapore On Friday

SINGAPORE, Jan 30 (Bernama) -- A 27-year-old Malaysian man was among 23 new asymptomatic COVID-19 imported cases reported in Singapore Friday, according to the republic’s Ministry of Health. The ministry, in its full data released here late last night, said the work permit holder arrived from Malaysia. As at noon Friday, Singapore recorded a total of 24 new imported cases, of which 23 were asymptomatic, while one was symptomatic. The other imported cases were from India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Spain, the Philippines, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Ukraine. The city-state reported no locally transmitted COVID-19 infections Friday, thus bringing the total number of infections here to 59,449. The ministry also updated that it has completed a special testing operation for staff who have been working from Dec 31, 2020 at Jewel Changi Airport, and at the shops and food establishments that are open to the public at Changi Airport Terminal 3. It was a precautionary measure after whole genome sequencing and phylogenetic analysis conducted by the National Public Health Laboratory revealed that three previously reported cases tested positive for the B117 variant, and could be linked. "In total, 409 staff were tested and all the results have come back negative for COVID-19 infection," it said. It was reported that 25 cases of the B117 variant have been detected in Singapore as of Jan 26, of which five are community cases and 20 imported cases from Europe. The B117 variant is said to be more deadly than the current common strain of the coronavirus. It was discovered in the United Kingdom. -- BERNAMA