Serological testing uncovered the hidden link between SARS-CoV-2 clusters associated with two churches in Singapore at a time when the nation was focused on containing the rapidly growing threat of the new virus.
Thought to be the first such use of serology in the world, a team from Duke-NUS assisted local contact tracers by analysing the blood of a married couple who had not previously been diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 but had been in close contact with the index case of Singapore’s largest church-related SARS-CoV-2 cluster at Grace Assembly of God.
SOURCE: CHANNEL NEWSASIA (YOUTUBE)
Having successfully cultured the virus, the Duke-NUS team used the virus and its genetic material to develop tests to accurately detect virus-specific antibodies that remain in people’s blood long after they recovered from the infection.
With these, the team determined that the couple had previously been infected with the novel coronavirus. Contact tracers were then able to trace the source of the infection, which originated with two travellers who had arrived from Wuhan in January. The visitors had attended a church gathering where they interacted with the couple. The couple, who were not initially linked to the resulting cluster, then met the index case of the Grace Assembly of God cluster.
The final chain comprised 31 people, accounting for a third of all reported infections at that time.
The achievement drew plaudits from Singapore’s Prime Minister, who wrote on his Facebook page to congratulate all involved.
SOURCE: PM LEE HSIEN LOONG (FACEBOOK)
“This breakthrough would not have been possible without close cooperation among the Ministry of Health, Singapore, Singapore Police Force and researchers from Duke-NUS Medical School, who developed the serological test, the world’s first, here in Singapore. My thanks to all of you for a job well done!”