Singapore has seen a sharp drop in community COVID-19 cases over the past month.
Two Singapore residents may have caught the Omicron variant even after receiving COVID-19 booster shots, in cases that may shed light on the safety offered by the third dose of the vaccine.
The health ministry said in a statement late Thursday that a 24-year-old female airport passenger-service worker has tested positive for Omicron, which will be the city-state’s first local case. The ministry said the second person is believed to be an imported case after returning from Germany via the vaccination travel lane on 6 December. Both had received their third dose of vaccines.
Pfizer Inc and BioNTech SE said earlier this week that preliminary laboratory studies suggest a third dose of their COVID-19 vaccine may be needed to neutralize the Omicron variant. The company’s researchers found a 25-fold reduction in neutralizing antibodies compared to the original strain of the virus in people who received just two shots. However, boosting with an additional shot of the vaccine restored protection to the same level as the initial two-dose regimen.
“Given its high transmission potential and spread to many parts of the world, we should expect to find more omicron cases across our borders and within our community,” Singapore’s health ministry said.
The ministry said both people are recovering in isolation at the National Center for Infectious Diseases, and all close contacts will be placed in 10-day quarantine.
The airport worker was tested as part of weekly testing for border guards. According to the statement, she was asymptomatic when she came to know through testing. In the second case, the 46-year-old had tested negative with a polymerase chain reaction test on arrival. However, she developed a runny nose the next day and sought medical treatment the next day after she tested positive.
Singapore has seen a sharp drop in community cases over the past month, along with a significant reduction in hospital load. The city-state has one of the best vaccination rates in the world, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. 87% of the total population is fully vaccinated, while 96% of eligible people are fully vaccinated, most with Pfizer or Moderna. Some 29% have even got booster jabs. Government officials have said that jabs will soon be offered to those in the age group of 5-11 years.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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