By PTI
SINGAPORE: Two top Singaporean government functionaries– a minister and a parliamentary secretary– have tested positive for COVID-19 as the country continues to witness a surge in the number of coronavirus cases, according to a media report on Friday.
Minister of State for Communications and Information and National Development Tan Kiat How and Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth and Ministry of Social and Family Development Eric Chua confirmed that they were diagnosed with the coronavirus infection this week, the Channel News Asia reported.
Tan said he tested positive for COVID-19 over Chinese New Year (CNY – celebrated this week) and spent the period isolated in his study.
“I just felt slightly more tired than usual which I thought was due to running errands to prepare for CNY. I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t been doing almost daily ART (antigen rapid test),” Tan said in a Facebook post.
Under Protocol 2 by the Singapore’s Ministry of Health, individuals who test positive but are well, or have been assessed by a doctor to have a mild condition, should isolate themselves at home for 72 hours.
Eric said that he had shared on his social media that he was feeling a little “heaty” on Wednesday night.
“Turns out I was actually COVID positive,” said Chua.
While all attempts are being made to curb the surge in coronavirus cases, Singapore has reported 4,297 new COVID-19 cases as of noon on Thursday, comprising 4,087 local and 210 imported infections.
Since the start of the pandemic, Singapore has recorded 366,473 coronavirus infections and 860 deaths related to it.
