12 staff in close contact with infected student cleared of Covid-19

Twelve staff who had been in close contact with a confirmed student patient at St Anthony's Canossian Secondary School have been cleared of the coronavirus.

Their test results have all come back negative, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) yesterday.

This comes after the Ministry of Education said on Sunday that all 47 students who had been in contact with the Secondary 4 student are also well.

MOH provided the information along with its evening update on the day's cases, where three work permit holders were the only community Covid-19 cases reported.

They are all asymptomatic cases who were detected through the MOH screening of workers in essential services.

The three men are aged 28, 42 and 48. Two have been linked to each other while one is currently unlinked.

Migrant workers living in dormitories make up the remaining 211 coronavirus cases.

The total of 214 cases confirmed by the ministry is the lowest figure since the 191 cases announced more than two months ago, on April 11.

The daily average of community cases since Singapore first began its reopening two weeks ago has also decreased, MOH said, from nine two weeks ago to eight in the past week.

The average daily unlinked cases has likewise come down from four to three over the same period.

The update yesterday came as the multi-ministry task force announced the reopening of most businesses and social activities from Friday, as the country goes into the second phase of its reopening.

From Friday, a range of restrictions will be eased to allow more business and social activities to resume. People can also get together socially in groups of up to five, and households can receive up to five visitors at any one time.

New cases: 214

In community: 3 (3 work permit holders)

In dormitories: 211

Active cases: 10,426

In hospitals: 243 (2 in ICU)

In community facilities: 10,183

Deaths: 26

Patients with Covid-19 who died from other causes: 10

Total discharged: 30,356

Discharged yesterday: 777

TOTAL CASES: 40,818

One new cluster was also announced yesterday at a dormitory at 23 Tech Park Crescent. Four more cases were linked to it and it has now reported eight cases in total.

The dormitory clusters at 21 Defu South Street 1 and Westlite Juniper at 23 Mandai Estate have been closed and now house only recovered individuals and those who have recently tested negative. This is part of the Government's efforts to clear dormitories through aggressive testing of migrant workers, MOH said.

The number of daily discharged patients remains higher than the number of new cases. With 777 new cases discharged yesterday, 30,356 patients have fully recovered from the disease.

The number of active cases, those who remain in hospital or community isolation facilities, have whittled down to 10,426. This makes up 25 per cent of the 40,818 cases that have been reported here since the first patient on Jan 23.

Two patients remain in intensive care.

Twenty-six have died from complications due to the coronavirus. Ten others who tested positive for the coronavirus have died of other causes.