SINGAPORE - One of the new community coronavirus patients announced by the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Friday night (July 10) is a Secondary 1 student from Jurong West Secondary School and linked to a previously confirmed case from the school.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) said on Saturday evening that the student, a 13-year-old girl, is linked to another Secondary 1 student, a 13-year-old boy who was announced by MOH on Tuesday as a coronavirus patient.
Both students are Singaporeans.
The girl was last in school on July 3 and was well, said MOE, adding that she still does not show any symptoms.
Since she was a close contact of her schoolmate who was confirmed to be infected, she has been serving a home quarantine order by MOH since Monday.
As part of MOH's expanded testing regime, she was swabbed and tested positive for the virus.
About 70 students and staff who are the remaining close contacts of the infected 13-year-old boy from the same school tested negative for Covid-19.
The school has been cleaned and disinfected several times since the last weekend, said MOE, with more disinfection and cleaning of the premises being done on Saturday.
Due to the latest case from the school, MOH will also issue home quarantine orders to another six students and four staff members.
The school had placed all Secondary 1 students on home-based learning on Wednesday and Thursday, pending the outcome of MOH's investigations.
As an added precaution, the home-based learning period for Secondary 1 students will be extended until next week before the start of the one-week mid-term break.
"This allows Secondary 1 classes to continue uninterrupted with lessons from their own teachers despite being on home quarantine orders," said MOE. "All other levels will resume classes in school (next) Monday as per normal."
MOH also confirmed 170 new coronavirus cases as of Saturday noon, taking Singapore's total to 45,783.
They include 24 community cases, comprising seven Singaporeans, six work pass holders and 11 work permit holders.
One of them is a nine-year-old boy who went to Madrasah Wak Tanjong Al-Islamiah, and is linked to a 40-year-old man who was announced to have Covid-19 on Friday. Both are Singaporeans.
The average number of new cases in the community per day has increased to 19 in the past week, from nine in the week before that.
The average number of unlinked cases in the community per day has increased to nine in the past week, from five in the week before that.
There is also one imported case, an Indian national who returned to Singapore from India on July 6.
The work pass holder was placed on a 14-day stay-home notice upon arrival here, and was tested while serving her notice.
Migrant workers living in dormitories make up the remaining 145 new cases.
A new Covid-19 cluster was also announced, with four cases at a dormitory at 53L Tuas South Avenue 1.
Among the new places visited by Covid-19 patients while they were still infectious that MOH listed on Saturday are Bugis Street, Bugis+, ICA Building and Bedok Point's Challenger outlet.
Food centres were listed too: Geylang Serai Market and Food Centre, Bukit Panjang Hawker Centre and Market, and the Block 16 Bedok South Market and Food Centre.
The ministry provides the list, found on MOH's website, to get those who were at these places to monitor their health closely for two weeks from the date of their visit.
MOH said that close contacts would already have been notified and that there is no need to avoid these places as they would have been cleaned if needed.
