The Ministry of Health (MOH) is investigating cases of Covid-19 infection among people who work at Hua Zai food outlets after finding likely ongoing transmission.
To break any potential chain of transmission and enable deep cleaning of the premises, all 26 Hua Zai outlets, which sell roasted meat, have been closed to the public since yesterday and will remain closed till June 14, said MOH.
The Hua Zai outlet at NTUC Foodfare at Block 308 Anchorvale Road has been closed since Sunday.
The cluster linked to the coffee shop now has nine cases.
Among seven unlinked cases reported in the community yesterday, one was a 26-year-old delivery rider for Pizza Hut (Hougang Green) and the other a 37-year-old resident at MINDSville@Napiri, a home for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
The delivery rider was tested for Covid-19 last Wednesday as part of MOH's special testing operations for delivery riders working in Hougang. His test result was negative then.
On Monday, he had a fever, cough and chills, and lost his sense of taste. He sought medical treatment at a general practitioner's (GP) clinic the same day.
He was immediately isolated when his antigen rapid test came back positive for the virus. His polymerase chain reaction test result came back positive for Covid-19 infection yesterday.
Another two unlinked community cases were a front-desk employee at Hotel Boss and a carpark roving officer at Top Parking.
There were eight linked cases in the community confirmed yesterday, including two pre-schoolers, aged two and four. Both had been quarantined before their test results came back positive on Monday.
The two-year-old is from Carpe Diem in Ang Mo Kio Drive and was last at the centre on May 14. The four-year-old is from My First Skool at 332B Anchorvale Link and was last at the centre on May 12.
A 17-year-old employee at Ang Mo Kio - Thye Hua Kwan Hospital was added to the Hong Ye Group cluster, which now has 22 cases.
She was a close contact of a previous case and had last gone to work last Friday. She had a fever and sore throat on Sunday but did not seek medical treatment until Monday, when she visited a GP's clinic.
Her test came back positive for Covid-19 on Monday.
Three new clusters with three cases each were announced yesterday by MOH.
The first is linked to a 35-year-old kitchen crew member at Kota Zheng Zong Bak Kut Teh in Serangoon Garden who was confirmed to have the virus on May 17.
The second is linked to a 24-year-old man who works at McDonald's (The Woodgrove) and was found to have the virus last Wednesday.
The last is linked to a 65-year-old housewife who was confirmed to have Covid-19 on Sunday.
There were also three imported cases who had been placed on stay-home notice on arrival here.
The 18 new cases take Singapore's total tally to 62,069.
