Two probable Omicron cases in Singapore, no community risk

 

The Singapore Health Ministry has detected two probable cases of the Omicron Covid-19 variant among travellers entering the country.

“Both cases were isolated upon arrival in Singapore on Dec 1 and had not interacted in the community. There is currently no evidence of any community transmission from these cases,” it said in a statement today.

It said one traveller had arrived from Mozambique transiting through Johannesburg, while the other departed from Johannesburg itself. Both arrived in Singapore on Dec 1 via flight SQ479.

Both travellers were fully vaccinated and had negative pre-departure test results on Nov 29.

They are now recovering in isolation wards with mild symptoms of cough and scratchy throat, it said.

As for other passengers on the flight, it said all 19 have tested negative for Covid-19 and are still under quarantine, during which they will undergo further testing.

The two cases were deemed to be probable Omicron variant cases due to the presence of an S-gene target failure (SGTF) during a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test.

PCR tests typically target multiple genes on the virus that causes Covid-19. This ensures the presence of the virus can still be detected even if one or two of them mutate beyond recognition.

SGTF is where a component of the test that targets the virus’ S-gene fails to detect the virus.

SGTF is a feature associated with the Omicron variant but is not unique to it. Hence, whole-genome sequencing is still needed to confirm the variant.

The Singapore Health Ministry said the sequencing is being conducted by the country’s National Public Health Laboratory.

Malaysia currently has a vaccinated travel lane (VTL) arrangement with Singapore.

The VTL previously allowed travellers between the countries to fly between Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Changi Airport without the need for quarantine.

They need to be fully vaccinated, undergo a pre-departure PCR test, and be tested again upon arrival at their destination airport.

Under new rules announced yesterday in response to the emergence of the Omicron variant, however, travellers are also encouraged to self-test for Covid-19 on Day 3 and Day 7 of their arrival.

In a related development, Malaysia's Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said Malaysia has sequenced 515 Covid-19 samples over the past week, all of which turn out to be the Delta variant. - Mkini