49 new coronavirus cases; 40 from dorms

An average of 45 workers have tested positive for Covid-19 daily since the dormitories were declared clear of the disease a month ago. ST PHOTO: TIMOTHY DAVID

SINGAPORE - There were 49 new coronavirus cases confirmed as at noon on Sunday (Sept 13), the majority migrant workers in dormitories.

Those outside the dorms comprised one community and eight imported cases, said the Ministry of Health, in its daily update.

The sole community case is a 42-year-old work permit holder who is unlinked to the previous cases. This means it is not known where he got infected from.

He was asymptomatic, but was tested as part of the routine testing of workers in the construction, marine and process sectors who live outside the dormitories.

Of the eight imported cases, two - a Singaporean and another permanent resident - had returned to Singapore from India.

Another four are work permit holders currently employed in Singapore who arrived from the Philippines on Aug 30.

The remaining cases are dependent's pass holders who arrived from India and the United States.

All of them had been placed on 14-day Stay-Home Notice (SHN) upon arrival, and were tested while serving their SHN at dedicated facilities.

The MOH also said that the average number of new daily cases in the community in a week has decreased to one in the past week, down from two cases the week before.

The number of unlinked cases in the community has also decreased from a daily average of two cases to one over the same period.

As for the migrant workers in dormitories, cases continue to be detected.

Since the dorms were declared clear of Covid-19 a month ago, on Aug 11, an average of 45 workers have tested positive for the disease daily, the Health Ministry disclosed on Wednesday.

They were detected primarily through active surveillance testing, such as rostered routine testing (RRT), and aggressive tracing and testing when a new case is detected.

With 65 patients discharged as at noon yesterday from hospitals or community care facilities, a total of 56,749 have fully recovered from the infection.

There are currently 60 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and none is in the intensive care unit.

There are also 555 patients recuperating in community facilities. They comprise those who have mild symptoms, or are clinically well but still test positive for Covid-19.

Singapore's official death tally from Covid-19 complications stands at 27, but another 15 who have tested positive for the virus have died of other causes.

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