The Ministry of Defence (MINDEF), Singapore has announced that a serviceman in its Armed Forces (SAF) has tested positive for the novel coronavirus of COVID-19 on 15 Feb. 2020.
The serviceman, who is being identified as 'Case 73' by the Ministry of Health, worked at Building 613 of Tengah Air Base. Currently, he is under quarantine at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases. Also, the SAF has been in communication with him to extend assistance and support, the MINDEF said in a statement.
Reminders to all servicemen
According to the statement, the servicemen was last seen at work on 6 February. However, not leaving anything to chance, the SAF has quickly employed precautionary measures such as the through and immediate disinfection of the building he had visited.
The statement also said that a reminder has been issued to all servicemen regarding the continuation of precautionary measures such as the washing of hands with soap regularly, recording of temperature twice a day, and seeking medical assistance if they felt ill.
No community transmission
According to recent data from GISAID, 81 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Singapore. However, no deaths due to the infection have been reported yet. Also, the World Health Organization(WHO) said in a tweet on Tuesday that Singapore's efforts in curbing the spread of the infection have been through and it is "impressed" by the nation's effort.
In another tweet, the WHO said that no evidence of community transmission of the infection has been found in Singapore. The tweet read: "Singapore is leaving no stone unturned, testing every case of influenza-like illness and pneumonia. So far they have not found evidence of #COVID19 community transmission."
Bringing economy back on track
Amid the growing economic ramification of the outbreak worldwide, Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), recently announced that it was downgrading its gross domestic product (GDP) for the year 2020 to 0.5 percent.
Heng Swee Keat, Minister of Finance, Singapore, recently announced that the government will be allocating 5.6 billion Singapore dollars ($4.02 billion) in the coming year in order to aid households and businesses to get through the distress caused by the outbreak.
