2 new Covid-19 dorm clusters found in Jurong, Seletar North

The Covid-19 cluster at Avery Lodge Dormitory is one of the two announced on Sept 10, 2020. PHOTO: ST FILE

SINGAPORE - Two new Covid-19 clusters at foreign worker dormitories were announced on Thursday (Sept 10) by the Ministry of Health (MOH).

They were Avery Lodge Dormitory in Jalan Papan in the Jurong area with 35 patients, and PPT Lodge 1A in Seletar North Link with eight cases.

There were also 63 new coronavirus patients announced on Thursday, taking Singapore's total to 57,229.

Of these, 55 stay in dorms. Twenty six of them are part of the new Avery Lodge Dormitory cluster.

The new cases announced on Thursday included two community cases, comprising a Singaporean and a work permit holder.

The Singaporean, a 36-year-old man, was linked to three previous imported cases who are his family members. They had returned from India on Aug 24, and were placed on stay-home-notices at a dedicated facility upon arrival in Singapore.

While the man had not travelled overseas with them, he requested to take care of his spouse and young children at the quarantine facility, and was isolated with them from Aug 24, said MOH.

The other case in the community, a 33-year-old Chinese national, was unlinked to other patients. He was detected as a result of rostered routine testing of workers in the construction, marine and process sectors who live outside dormitories. This was even though he did not show symptoms.

Meanwhile, six new imported patients were announced on Thursday.

Among them is a Singaporean who returned to Singapore from the United Arab Emirates on Aug 29.

Four of them are workers currently employed here. One is a work pass holder who arrived from Bangladesh on Aug 31, while another work pass holder arrived from Russia on Aug 29. Two work permit holders arrived from Indonesia on Aug 29.

The remaining imported patient is a student's pass holder who arrived from the Philippines on Aug 27.

All of them were placed on 14-day stay-home notices upon arrival in Singapore, and were tested while serving their notices at dedicated facilities.

One new location was added to the list of places visited by infectious Covid-19 patients on Thursday.

Yaleju-Tong Bei Huo Guo Pte Ltd, a restaurant at 149 Geylang Road, was visited by at least one patient between 10am and 12.05pm on Aug 30, said MOH.

The average number of new daily cases in the community in a week has decreased from three cases two weeks ago to two in the past week.

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

With 66 cases discharged on Thursday, 56,543 patients have fully recovered from the disease.

A total of 47 patients remain in hospital, with none in intensive care, while 597 are recuperating in community facilities.

Singapore has had 27 deaths from Covid-19 complications, while 15 who tested positive have died of other causes.

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