Eight new unlinked community cases

An 82-year-old Singaporean woman is among eight new unlinked community Covid-19 cases that were announced yesterday.

She was confirmed to have the virus yesterday after showing symptoms on Wednesday.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) said yesterday that an 11-year-old permanent resident who had returned from India on June 21 later tested positive for Covid-19 on Friday.

He was placed on stay-home notice (SHN) on arrival and had been ferried in a dedicated transport to an SHN facility to start his 14-day isolation. He is asymptomatic and had been tested while serving SHN, said MOH. He is a family member of another imported case, a 35-year-old female permanent resident, which was reported on Friday.

Of the nine community cases, there are four Singaporeans, three work pass holders and two work permit holders.

The only linked community case, a 38-year-old male Bangladeshi, was identified as a contact of a previously confirmed case and had been quarantined earlier. He is asymptomatic and was tested during quarantine.

Of the eight unlinked community cases, three were proactively swabbed as they work in essential services, even though two were asymptomatic.

Another case was detected as part of the MOH's proactive screening of individuals deployed to frontline Covid-19 operations.

Epidemiological investigations are ongoing for the remaining four unlinked cases. Three of these cases surfaced after being tested, as part of expanded community testing efforts.

The MOH confirmed 185 new coronavirus cases in Singapore yesterday, bringing the total to 44,664.

Of the new cases, 175 are foreign workers living in dormitories.

  • Updates on cases

  • New cases: 185

    Imported: 1 (PR)

    In community: 9 (4 Singaporeans, 3 work pass holders and 2 work permit holders)

    In dormitories: 175

  • Active cases: 4,521

    In hospitals: 204 (2 in ICU)

    In community facilities: 4,317

  • Deaths: 26

    Patients with Covid-19 who died from other causes: 12

    Total discharged: 40,105

    Discharged yesterday: 348

    TOTAL CASES: 44,664

The average number of new daily cases in the community during a week has increased from six cases two weeks ago to nine in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community during a week has also increased from the daily average of three cases two weeks ago to the daily average of five in the past week.

With 348 cases discharged yesterday, 40,105 patients have fully recovered from the disease.

A total of 204 patients remain in hospital, including two in the intensive care unit, while 4,317 are recuperating in community facilities.

Singapore has had 26 deaths from Covid-19 complications, while 12 who tested positive have died of other causes.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Sunday Times on July 05, 2020, with the headline Eight new unlinked community cases. Subscribe