6 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore & Malaysia; cruise passenger will be added to tally if further tests come back positive: MOH

SINGAPORE: Six new COVID-19 cases were reported in Singapore as of noon on Wednesday (Dec 9), said the Ministry of Health (MOH) in its daily preliminary update.

The latest count does not include a man who tested positive for COVID-19 on board a cruise ship. 

No new cases were found in the community and in foreign workers' dormitories. This is the fourth consecutive day with no locally transmitted infections.

All imported cases were placed on stay-home notice upon their arrival in Singapore.

Details of the new cases will be released on Wednesday night, said the health ministry. 

An 83-year-old Singaporean man on board Royal Caribbean International’s Quantum of the Seas tested positive for COVID-19 infection on Wednesday morning and was immediately isolated, said the health ministry.

He had reported to the medical centre with diarrhoea, and as part of the protocols was tested for COVID-19 using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test equipment on board the cruise ship. 

“His sample will be re-tested at the National Public Health Laboratory, and a second sample will be taken for confirmatory tests. If further tests also come back positive for COVID-19 infection, he will be included as a case in our daily case count,” said MOH.

Epidemiological investigations and contact tracing are in progress. The health ministry added that "all the identified close contacts of the case have been isolated and the results that have come back so far are negative for COVID-19 infection". 

The remaining passengers and crew will remain on board the ship until contact tracing is completed. All passengers will undergo mandatory COVID-19 testing before they are allowed to leave the terminal at Marina Bay Cruise Centre, said MOH. 

Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas ship began sailing again this month as part of a pilot scheme that allows round-trips with no ports of call.