SINGAPORE - Four more foreign worker dormitories have been placed under isolation, bringing the total to 25, even as coronavirus cases from these dorms continue to drive up infection cases here.
Health Minister Gan Kim Yong has declared Tuas South Dormitory, Jurong Penjuru Dormitory 2, CDPL Tuas Dormitory and the 21B Senoko Loop dormitory as isolation areas under the Infectious Diseases Act.
This is according to a notice on the Government Gazette on Thursday (April 23). The move comes into effect on Friday.
There are now 25 dormitories declared as isolation areas. Workers at these lodgings must be quarantined in their rooms for 14 days.
In a daily update on Thursday, the Ministry of Health (MOH) also announced six more coronavirus clusters.
They are linked to the Blue Stars Dormitory at 3 Kian Teck Lane, Hulett Dormitory at 20 Senoko Drive, Seatown Dormitory at 69H Tuas South Avenue 1, Woodlands Dormitory at 27 Woodlands Sector, 12 Loyang Drive, and 59 Sungei Kadut Loop.
The S11 Dormitory in Punggol remains Singapore's largest active cluster with 2,234 confirmed cases. The cluster accounts for almost 20 per cent of all the cases here.
MOH said foreign workers in dormitories still form most of the new coronavirus cases here. It said 982 of these workers were among the 1,037 new cases on Thursday.
The total number of patients infected with the coronavirus in Singapore has now hit 11,178.
Foreign workers not living in dorms made up 30 of the new cases.
There were also 25 new cases in the community, including 22 Singaporeans and permanent residents as well as three work pass holders. There were no imported cases reported.
Among the new cases, three-quarters were linked to known clusters while the rest are currently unlinked, pending contact tracing.
One of the new cases involves a 33-year-old man who works at Thye Hua Kwan Moral Charities (THKMC).
He is based out of THKMC's office premises and provides personal care services to home-bound clients at their homes, the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) said in a statement on Thursday.
The AIC added that the man tested positive for the virus on Wednesday and was last at work on Monday.
He is now warded at Singapore General Hospital.
The AIC said THKMC has put in place additional precautionary measures in consultation with MOH and the agency.
For example, THKMC has thoroughly cleaned and disinfected its office premises and equipment that the staff member may have used.
Meanwhile, 36 more patients were discharged from hospitals and community isolation facilities. In total, 924 patients have been discharged.
The MOH said the number of new cases in the general community has decreased, from an average of 34 cases a day in the week before, to an average of 25 a day in the past week.
The number of unlinked cases in the community has also decreased slightly, from an average of 20 cases a day in the week before, to an average of 18 a day in the past week.
