‘Special testing’ of 234 Crowne Plaza Changi Airport staff completed, all negative for Covid-19

A “special testing operation” of 234 staff working at Crowne Plaza Changi Airport for Covid-19 has been completed, with all the results coming back negative for coronavirus infection, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Saturday (Jan 9).

MOH had announced the launch of the special testing operation on Thursday after two unlinked cases were found among staff at the hotel.

On Friday, a third case linked to the hotel was discovered.

In its evening update of the coronavirus situation in Singapore on Saturday, MOH added that it is investigating the three cases and from its preliminary investigations, it cannot exclude that transmissions could have occurred at the hotel.

Crowne Plaza Changi Airport has been closed for 14 days from Jan 8 to Jan 21, including its restaurant and event spaces.

29 NEW CASES

MOH said there were 29 new cases of Covid-19 infection in Singapore on Saturday, all of which were imported.

They had already been placed on Stay-Home Notice (SHN) or isolated upon arrival in Singapore.

Amongst the new cases, 25 are asymptomatic, and were detected from proactive screening and surveillance, while four were symptomatic.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has decreased from 10 cases in the week before to eight cases in the past week.

The number of unlinked cases in the community has increased from four cases in the week before to five cases in the past week.

Amongst the 29 imported cases:

• Four are Singaporeans and one is a Singapore Permanent Resident who returned from India, Indonesia, Sweden and the United Kingdom
• Three are dependant’s pass holders who arrived from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), India and Maldives
• One is a student’s pass holder who arrived from India
• Five are work pass holders who arrived from India and the UAE
• 13 are work permit holders who arrived from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar, of whom three are foreign domestic workers
• One is a short-term visit pass holder who arrived from India to visit her spouse who is a Singapore PR
• One is a special pass holder who is a sea crew. He arrived from Indonesia onboard a vessel and was swabbed upon arrival. He was conveyed to the hospital when his test result came back positive for Covid-19 infection.

UPDATE ON CONDITION OF CONFIRMED CASES

The total number of infections in Singapore is now 58,865.

Of these, 58,611 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities, including 31 on Saturday.

There are currently 67 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and one is in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

Another 158 are isolated and cared for at community facilities. These are those who have mild symptoms, or are clinically well but still test positive for Covid-19.

So far, 29 have passed away from complications due to Covid-19 infection.