Singapore Poly and NIE students, NSF among 11 new unlinked community cases

Two more students at Singapore Polytechnic (SP) have tested positive for Covid-19.

The first is a 16-year-old boy who has tested positive for the B1617 variant of the virus first identified in India, while the second is a 32-year-old IT engineer enrolled as a part-time adult learner.

This has prompted the polytechnic to move all lessons online for the next two weeks from Tuesday May 18 to Friday May 28, it said in a statement last night.

The two cases are currently not connected and were two of 11 unlinked cases reported yesterday.

The others included a student at the National Institute of Education (NIE) who is also a part-time tutor and a full-time national serviceman (NSF), said the Ministry of Health (MOH).

The NSF was last at Sungei Gedong Camp on May 14, and is currently warded at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, said the Ministry of Defence in a statement last night.

He had received both doses of a Covid-19 vaccine.

The two SP students' positive tests come after an 18-year-old from SP's Media, Arts and Design School tested positive on Saturday.

A 37-year-old teacher at Frontier Primary and an eight-year-old boy at Fuchun Primary have also tested positive for the virus, prompting their schools to shift to home-based learning two days earlier than the rest of Singapore's schools.

The teacher's infection is unlinked, while the boy's has been linked to the Changi Airport cluster. Three other patients reported yesterday were linked to this group. They are a 37-year-old foreign domestic worker, a 63-year-old housewife and a 49-year-old Certis Cisco security officer.

There were six other linked cases for a total of 10, the Ministry of Health said in a statement last night.

Of these, one - a 62-year-old retired man - has been linked to the cluster related to Wok Hey in White Sands Shopping Mall. There are now four cases in this cluster.

New cases: 28

Imported: 7

In community: 21 (10 linked, 11 unlinked)

In dormitories: 0

New community cases in the past week: 149 (42 unlinked cases)

Active cases: 459

In hospitals: 213 (3 in ICU)

In community facilities: 246

Deaths: 31

Patients with Covid-19 who died from other causes: 15

Total discharged: 61,108

Discharged yesterday: 19

TOTAL CASES: 61,613

As a few Covid-19 patients had visited White Sands while infectious, MOH will be offering free Covid-19 testing for members of the public who had visited White Sands from May 2 to May 11.

MOH will progressively inform these individuals via an SMS notification with information on how to book an appointment for their test.

All visitors to White Sands during that timeframe are also advised to monitor their health closely for 14 days from their date of visit, said MOH.

They are strongly encouraged to get tested if they feel unwell.

Of the five remaining linked patients, two are from the Learning Point cluster - a seven-year-old girl at Maha Bodhi School and a 72-year-old retired man.

The last three are a 34-year-old unemployed man linked to the newly formed Marina Bay Sands casino dealer cluster and a 36-year-old maid who has been linked to a personal chauffeur who previously tested positive, and a 57-year-old engineer who is a family member and household contact of the IT engineer at SP.

There were also seven imported cases who had been placed on stay-home notice on arrival in Singapore, said MOH. Of these, two are returning Singaporeans or permanent residents.

The new cases take Singapore's total to 61,613.

The number of new cases in the community has increased from 32 cases two weeks ago to 149 in the past week.

The number of unlinked cases in the community in a week has increased from seven cases to 42 over the same period.