Last Covid-19 cluster in S'pore closed; final NUS hostel resident tests negative

Covid-19 viral fragments were detected on Sunday (March 21) from testing wastewater samples collected from the UTown Residence North Tower at NUS. PHOTO: ST FILE

SINGAPORE - The last remaining local cluster of Covid-19 infections has closed, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Thursday (March 25) night.

"As there have been no more cases linked to the case 60,102 cluster for the past two incubation periods (28 days), the cluster has now closed. There are currently no open clusters of infections," it said.

Case 60,102 refers to the 41-year-old Singaporean cabin crew member with Singapore airlines who tested positive for the coronavirus last month on Feb 9. The woman's husband and domestic helper subsequently tested positive, prompting MOH to open a local cluster around their cases.

Meanwhile, MOH also said that the last swab test from the mass testing of 438 individuals in the National University of Singapore (NUS) wastewater incident has come back negative.

Covid-19 viral fragments were detected on Sunday (March 21) from testing wastewater samples collected on March 20 from the UTown Residence North Tower at NUS, prompting MOH to swab test all the occupants of the 13 affected apartments.

With this final result in, all 438 residents swabbed have tested negative for the coronavirus.

There were 17 new coronavirus cases reported on Thursday.

This brings Singapore's total to 60,253.

All of the cases were imported and had been placed on stay-home-notices on arrival in Singapore, said MOH. Only one of the 17 had symptoms when tested.

With eight cases discharged on Thursday, 60,071 patients have fully recovered from the disease.

A total of 25 patients remain in hospital, with none in intensive care, while 112 are recuperating in community facilities.

Singapore has had 30 deaths from Covid-19 complications, while 15 who tested positive have died of other causes.

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