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Two more Omicron COVID-19 cases transited through Singapore to Australia and Malaysia

Two more Omicron COVID-19 cases transited through Singapore to Australia and Malaysia

Travellers at Changi Airport in Singapore. (File photo: iStock/Stephane Jaquemet)

SINGAPORE: Two more Omicron COVID-19 cases had transited in Singapore en route to Australia and Malaysia, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Friday (Dec 3). 

The two travellers were in the transit holding area of Changi Airport and remained there until their departure. 

“Both cases had not entered Singapore or interacted in the community, and there is currently no evidence of any community transmission from these cases,” said MOH. 

The COVID-19 case who travelled to Australia arrived in Sydney on Singapore Airlines flight SQ231 on Nov 28. 

He had departed from Johannesburg on Nov 27 via SQ481 and arrived at Changi Airport on the same day for his transit flight.

His pre-departure test in South Africa on Nov 24 was negative for COVID-19, said MOH. 

According to the New South Wales government, the traveller was the Australian state’s eighth Omicron case. He was fully vaccinated. 

The Omicron case who arrived in Malaysia via Singapore had also travelled from Johannesburg, South Africa. Malaysia’s Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin earlier confirmed that she was the country’s first Omicron case. 

The 19-year-old student, who was fully vaccinated, arrived in Malaysia on Nov 19, before the World Health Organization declared Omicron a variant of concern on Nov 26. 

Singapore’s Health Ministry said she was on SQ479 and had remained in the transit holding area until her departure to Malaysia on Nov 19.

Fifteen passengers on board SQ479 have been identified as her flight close contacts. 

“All of them had not entered Singapore, or interacted with the community in Singapore, and had remained in the transit holding area,” said MOH. “Contact tracing for both cases is ongoing.”

It was reported earlier this week that two travellers from South Africa who transited in Singapore tested positive for the Omicron variant in Sydney.

They remained in the transit area and did not visit other areas in Changi Airport, said MOH. Seven people disembarked, of whom six are serving a 10-day stay-home notice at a dedicated facility and will be tested using polymerase chain reaction tests.

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Source: CNA/gs(mi)

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