SINGAPORE, Feb 10 — Singapore reported a total of 11 new Covid-19 cases today, including a Singapore Airlines cabin crew member who tested preliminarily positive for the B117 strain, according to the republic’s Health Ministry (MOH).
In a full data released here, the ministry said the crew member, a 41-year-old Singaporean woman, departed Singapore on January 30 on a turnaround flight to the United Arab Emirates, and returned on February 1 without disembarking from the aircraft at the overseas destination.
On February 7, the MOH said she was tested for Covid-19 as part of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore’s requirement for crew members to be tested upon their return from overseas.
“Her pooled test result came back positive for Covid-19 on February 8 and she was sent to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases for an individual swab and isolated. Her test result came back positive for Covid-19 infection the next day,” it said.
Labelled as Case 60102, the cabin crew member received her first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine on February 2.
“As the vaccine does not contain live virus, she could not have been infected due to vaccination.
“It is possible for one to be infected just before or just after vaccination as it typically takes a few weeks for an individual to build up immunity after completing vaccination,” said the ministry.
Besides Case 60102, the MOH said four passengers on the same flight also tested positive for Covid-19 early this month and are also preliminarily positive for the B117 strain.
As of noon today, no new cases of local transmissions were reported in Singapore, with all 11 being imported cases, thus bringing the total number of infections here to 59,732.
— Bernama
