SINGAPORE: Singapore has reported two travellers from the UK and a frontline worker at the Changi Airport as "preliminarily positive" for the Omicron variant of COVID-19.
The local "preliminarily positive" Omicron case is a 38-year-old man who works as a passenger service staff member at the departure gates at Changi Airport Terminal 3, the health ministry said late Friday night.
The two visitors had travelled to Singapore from the United Kingdom via the vaccinated travel lane (VTL) on December 8, it said.
All the three cases were fully vaccinated and asymptomatic, the Channel News Asia reported, quoting the health ministry.
The travellers from the UK are a 30-year-old woman and a 28-year-old man.
The woman's pre-departure test in the UK on December 7 was negative for COVID-19 infection, but tested positive on-arrival during PCR test on December 9.
The man did not interact with the woman during the flight.
His pre-departure test in the UK on December 6 was negative for COVID-19 infection, but his on-arrival PCR test on December 9 was positive. The man was suspected to have been infected with the Omicron variant on December 10.
On Thursday, a 24-year-old woman, who works as a passenger service staff member at the Changi airport, and a 46-year-old woman, who returned to Singapore via VTL from Germany on December 6, were tested "preliminarily positive" for the Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Both of them were fully vaccinated.
All frontline airport workers are currently undergoing weekly routine testing, and all airport workers on routine testing will be required to do daily antigen rapid tests for the next seven days.
"Given its high transmissibility and spread to many parts of the world, we should expect to find more Omicron cases at our borders and also within our community," the health ministry said.
Singapore on Friday reported 454 new Covid cases -- 436 community infections, four recorded from dormitories for migrant workers and 14 imported cases.
The island-state has so far recorded 272,433 COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.
Four more people died due to the disease on Friday, taking the total death toll to 783.
Meanwhile, the health ministry in a press release on Friday said children in Singapore between the ages of five and 11 will be able to get vaccinated with paediatric doses of the Pfizer-BioNtech/Comirnaty Covid-19 vaccine before the end of the year.
The Health Sciences Authority (HSA) has approved the use of such doses for children, and vaccination can commence once Singapore receive deliveries of the vaccine doses, it said.
"This will be the first Covid-19 vaccine HSA has granted approval for use in Singapore for this age group," the ministry said.
The ministry said it will extend the booster vaccination to people aged between 18 and 29 from December 14.
While the primary series of vaccinations provide 'excellent protection' against severe disease, there is evidence of waning protection against infection over time albeit at a slower pace in younger persons, it said, adding that 96 per cent of the eligible population and 87 per cent of the total population have so far completed their full regimen or received two doses of Covid-19 vaccines.