Online community questions lapses in most recent Covid-19-related death

Singapore – One new death and four new Covid-19 cases were confirmed by the Ministry of Health on Monday (Oct 13). The first death reported in three months got members from the online community wondering if there were lapses in the monitoring and testing process due to the days that passed with no report on the Covid-19 positive case.

In their daily Covid-19 situation report on Monday, MOH disclosed that there were four new Covid-19 cases confirmed in Singapore, two locally-transmitted while the other two were imported cases.

One of the community cases resides in a dormitory, and the other is a one-year-old infant girl previously linked to confirmed cases, said MOH. She is an Indian national and a family member of two earlier confirmed cases. They arrived in Singapore on Sep 16 and were placed on SHN at a dedicated facility, said MOH.

The two imported cases are a 26-year-old permanent resident who returned from the Philippines and a 29-year-old work pass holder who travelled to India and the United Arab Emirates. They have been placed on Stay-Home Notice (SHN) upon arrival.

All four cases were asymptomatic, the report noted.

Meanwhile, a 64-year-old male Singapore Permanent Resident has passed away from Covid-19-related complications on Oct 12, said MOH. “He had been working in India since Dec 2019 and was placed on SHN when he returned to Singapore on Sept 23.

He was confirmed to have Covid-19 infection on Oct 4 and had a history of hypertension,” read the report. The man is the 28th patient to succumb to the virus in Singapore. Singapore General Hospital (SGH) has reached out to his family and is extending assistance to them, said MOH.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has decreased from an average of one case per day in the week before to an average of fewer than one per day in the past week, said MOH.

The number of unlinked cases in the community has also decreased from an average of fewer than one case to none, with the same time frame. “We will continue to closely monitor these numbers, as well as the cases detected through our surveillance programme,” added MOH.

In response to the report, members from the online community observed a few lapses in the report, specifically with the timing of the recent death and categorising a supposed imported case as a community one.

A Facebook user named Peter De Silva took account of the dates and asked about the 64-year-old, “Why was he not swabbed and tested immediately since he was returning from India? What of his result from India when he arrived? Was he already Covid-19 positive?” He noted that a good 10 days lapsed while the man was on SHN since his arrival on Sep 23 before being diagnosed on Oct 4 as Covid-19 positive. “Why was he not hospitalised within ten days of arrival?” he added.

Others also wondered why the one-year-old was tagged as a community case when she had arrived from India. “Once again, why MOH classify that one-year-old as community case?” asked one Caleb Cheo. “The baby should be classified as imported case as he has not been in the community at all since arrival.”

Furthermore, Facebook user Wilson Wong questioned why the child was only detected to be Covid-19 positive 14 days since her arrival.

On top of extending their condolences to the affected family, netizens expressed their concern on the possibility of an increase in imported cases as borders begin reopening.

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