SINGAPORE, Feb 25 — A link between two Covid-19 church clusters — whose source of infection had previously eluded the authorities — was finally established, thanks to a new testing method developed by Duke-NUS, called a serological test.
The test allows the authorities to establish if an individual who has recovered from the coronavirus was previously infected with it.
Those who have recovered from the virus will have high levels of virus-specific antibodies in their blood which can be picked up by this test.
The authorities did this test on Case 83 (a 54 year-old Singaporean male) and Case 91, the latest case to be announced today after the police found that a married couple from Wuhan (Cases 8 and 9) had visited Life Church and Missions Singapore on January 19, and on January 25 also attended a Chinese New Year gathering on Mei Hwan Drive near Ang Mo Kio Ave 1 which other confirmed cases attended.
Case 83 had tested positive for Covid-19 on Feb 19, the authorities had previously said.
The couple did not show symptoms during the period under investigations but records by the Ministry of Health (MOH) showed that Case 91 had gone to the emergency department of Sengkang General Hospital earlier on Jan 26 with symptoms consistent with Covid-19.
However, she was not flagged as a suspect case then because she had no recent travel history to China. The case definition has since been expanded to include those who have not been in China in the past 14 days.
At the same time, records also showed that Case 83 had gone to a general practitioner clinic repeatedly in late January.
Based on these findings, the couple were sent for serological tests and it was confirmed that they had earlier been infected with the virus.
Together with the help of the Singapore Police Force, the authorities have found that the Chinese New Year gathering at Mei Hwan Drive was the common event that Cases 83 and 91 attended together with a member from the Grace Assembly of God church.
At a press conference today, the MOH said the spread between the clusters started with Cases 8 (a 56 year-old woman) and 9 (a 56 year-old man), who are Chinese nationals.
The couple arrived in Singapore on January 19 from Wuhan, China — the epicentre of the outbreak.
They attended a service on Jan 19 at Life Church and Missions Singapore at Paya Lebar where six others were infected with the virus including cases 83 and 91.
These two cases then attended the Chinese New Year gathering at Mei Hwan Drive where nine others were infected, including Case 66.
Case 66, a 28-year-old Singaporean man, is a staff member at Grace Assembly of God church, and was found to be the primary case in this cluster which has 16 other confirmed cases.
Some people were exposed to Case 66 at a staff meeting and they in turn infected other church members, MOH said. — TODAY
