'No one wanted this to happen': 14 people infected with Covid-19 after CNY house visit

A Chinese New Year gathering for a group of friends went awry after all of them — including the host's family members — tested positive for Covid-19. 

Speaking to Shin Min Daily News, one of the guests said that she and four others visited her friend's house last Sunday (Feb 6). 

"The host invited us over for lunch, but I arrived a little later. We were there from afternoon till dinnertime," said the 45-year-old woman. 

She didn't think too much about the risk of infection as everyone in the group had received their booster jabs and had negative ART test results.

Because everyone had taken the necessary precautions, the host didn't ask for the guests to keep their masks on either. 

Unfortunately, one of them tested positive for Covid-19 two days after the visit. Subsequently, the rest of the group and some of the host's family members also tested positive. 

Among the 14 people that were infected, the youngest is a 10-year-old while the oldest is in their 60s. 

[[nid:561178]]

"There's no one at fault here, nobody wanted this to happen. But I feel bad knowing that an elderly person caught the virus from this gathering," said the woman. 

Since Chinese New Year eve (Jan 31), Singapore has seen a total of 111,745 cases, with weekly infection rates ranging from 1.23 to 2.26. 

As Omicron is a more transmissible variant of Covid-19, many people have reported health scares during the festive period. 

Last week, a man took to social media to rant about a friend who turned up at a gathering despite being a close contact of a Covid-19 case.

His friend only disclosed this while the group was eating, prompting the man to urge the public to stay home if they had been in close contact with someone who tested positive. 

Similarly, a woman had to rush her two-year-old daughter out of her cousin's home on Feb 2 after she learnt that he had contracted the virus. 

ALSO READ: Why are more children getting Covid-19?

claudiatan@asiaone.com