Celebs, minister infected as COVID-19 cases rise in Singapore amid Omicron wave
As new COVID-19 infections rose in Singapore during the past few weeks, several government leaders and celebrities have contracted the virus.
Members of government who have been infected include Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen and office-holding MPs Tan Kiat How and Eric Chua.
Local actors Mark Lee, Hayley Woo, Alaric Tay, Marcus Chin, and Richard Low were also infected.
Singapore reported 13,011 new COVID-19 infections on 8 February, up from 7,806 on the previous day.
The weekly infection growth rate – or ratio of community cases for the past week over the week before – was 1.69 on 8 Feb, up from 1.52 the previous day.
A figure of over one means that the number of new weekly cases is on the rise. The rate reached a peak of 3.01 on 30 August last year during the Delta variant wave.
There was a sharp uptick in new local COVID-19 cases on 4 Feb, when the number hit 13,208, which was triple the figure from the day before.
The Omicron variant of COVID-19 is more contagious than Delta, but generally causes less severe disease. With 93 per cent of the population fully vaccinated and 61 per cent boosted, most infected persons have mild or no symptoms and are recovering at home.
Infected celebrities
30-year-old actress Hayley Woo posted a TikTok video on 1 Feb, the first day of Chinese New Year, revealing that she had come down with COVID-19.
In the video, Woo gives herself a haircut despite the Chinese superstition that one shouldn't cut their hair during Chinese New Year.
Woo wrote, "When you're tested Covid positive and wanting to cut all the bad luck away for Lunar New Year... Take care everyone."
According to Shin Min Daily News, actors Mark Lee, Marcus Chin and Richard Low also became infected before Chinese New Year began on 1 Feb.
Richard Low tested positive for COVID-19 on 21 Jan but recovered within days, testing negative by 26 Jan. The 69-year-old Channel 8 actor said his symptoms were mild, probably because he had taken a booster vaccine.
Mark Lee and Marcus Chin both tested positive on 29 Jan.
Lee, 53, told Shin Min that he did not have a fever but had a cough and other cold symptoms. He had to skip his family's Chinese New Year reunion dinner and ate by himself. He tested negative for the virus by 5 Feb.
Chin, 68, experienced a fever, cough and sore throat. He told Shin Min that he self-quarantined and had a takeout for his reunion dinner. He recovered by 3 Feb.
On 6 Feb, Alaric Tay shared on social media that he tested positive for the virus on 5 Feb.
Tay said he was fine as he had been fully vaccinated.
"I'm self-isolating… I am going to be watching a lot of Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, MeWatch, Viu, Viddsee," he said.
Infected politicians
Defence Minister Ng on Tuesday (8 February) said he had been infected with COVID-19, although it was a mild form of the illness.
Dr Ng is the first cabinet minister known to have been infected with COVID-19.
He wrote about his experience during the five days after he tested positive, saying that he experienced a fever, sore throat, body aches and headache.
Dr Ng expressed his relief at not experiencing a severe form of the disease since he had been fully vaccinated and boosted.
"With the Omicron variant being so contagious, I expected that it would be a matter of time before I caught it," said Dr Ng. "Not that one would go looking to be infected, but with the highly infectious Omicron causing the largest waves since the start of the pandemic in Singapore, it would be hard to avoid this variant, unless one became a recluse."
Two other government leaders, MPs Tan Kiat How (Minister of State for Communications and Information and National Development) and Eric Chua (Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth and Ministry of Social and Family Development), said on Facebook on 3 Feb that they were infected after Chinese New Year, though they had mild symptoms.
