SINGAPORE - There were 31 new coronavirus cases, including 19 in the community, as at Saturday noon (May 15), said the Ministry of Health (MOH).

Of the community cases, two are currently unlinked.

There were also 12 imported cases who had been placed on stay-home notice on arrival in Singapore, said the ministry.

Of these, seven are returning Singaporeans or permanent residents.

The new cases take Singapore's total to 61,536. More details will be announced on Saturday night.

On Friday, MOH said that five primary school pupils have tested positive for the coronavirus after attending classes run by an infected tuition teacher at Learning Point, an enrichment centre located in Parkway Centre.

They are two boys aged seven and nine who go to St Stephen's School, a nine-year-old girl and an eight-year-old boy from Kong Hwa School, and a boy aged nine who goes to St Andrew's Junior School.

Their teacher is a 50-year-old woman who was confirmed to have the infection on Wednesday.

The five children were among the 24 confirmed Covid-19 cases in the community reported by MOH on Friday.

They make up a new cluster - one of two reported on Friday.

The other new cluster surfaced after a fully vaccinated employee at Unity Pharmacy tested positive.

His infection has been linked to that of an operating theatre nurse at Sengkang General Hospital.

This cluster currently has three patients, the last of whom is a seven-year-old pupil at Yio Chu Kang Primary School.

Singapore now has 13 active clusters.

Thirteen of the other community cases on Friday have been linked to the Changi Airport cluster, taking the total number of patients in it to 59. Of these, six are airport staff employed at Terminals 1 and 3.

They are a 27-year-old who works in a retail store at Terminal 3, a 29-year-old who works as an IT support engineer in Terminal 1, two Certis employees aged 28 and 67 and two Immigration and Checkpoints Authority officers aged 51 and 57.

The other seven are contacts of patients in the cluster.

They comprise two cleaners at Kopitiam Square Sengkang, another cleaner at Robinson 77 in the Central Business District, a principal of a language school, a retail staff member at Ngee Ann City, an administrative worker at the Ministry of Manpower and a 91-year-old housewife.

The last linked patient in the community is an 88-year-old man who had been warded at Tan Tock Seng Hospital's Ward 9D. His infection brings the number in that cluster to 45.

He had been in Ward 9D since April 19 and was transferred to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases on April 29. He has been tested for the virus daily since May 2, testing negative until Wednesday.

Among the community patients, 16 had already been placed on quarantine, said MOH.

Four of the 24 community cases are currently unlinked. They are a 39-year-old Sats Food Services worker deployed at Changi Prison, a 22-year-old cook at Wok Hey in White Sands mall, a 70-year-old retired woman and a 48-year-old GrabFood delivery worker.

Another 28 cases were imported ones who had been placed on stay-home notice on arrival in Singapore, said MOH. Of these, 19 are returning Singaporeans or permanent residents.

MOH said the number of new cases in the community has risen from 43 cases two weeks ago to 91 in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community in a week has also increased from nine cases to 16 over the same period.

With 18 patients discharged on Friday, 61,032 patients have fully recovered from the disease.

A total of 180 patients remain in hospital, including three in critical condition in the intensive care unit, while 247 are recuperating in community facilities.

Singapore has had 31 deaths from Covid-19 complications, while 15 who tested positive have died of other causes.