Spike in dorm coronavirus cases; 9th death reported
222 additional cases linked to S11 Dormitory; 65-year-old man is ninth virus-related death here
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The S11 Dormitory @ Punggol (above) is Singapore's biggest cluster with 586 cases. The bulk of yesterday's record 386 cases came from foreign worker dormitories, but a 77-year-old resident of Vanguard Healthcare's Woodlands Care Home was also among the new cases identified yesterday.
ST PHOTO: ONG WEE JIN
Tiffany Fumiko Tay
Singapore's largest cluster of coronavirus patients grew significantly yesterday, with 222 additional cases linked to the S11 Dormitory @ Punggol.
The sharp spike on a day of record highs - with 386 new cases identified yesterday - meant foreign worker dormitories and the elderly continue to be causes for concern in the outbreak.
Yesterday, a 65-year-old male Singaporean became the ninth death here linked to Covid-19 and a new case emerged at a nursing home.
So far, the deaths here have involved patients aged between 64 and 90. The man was first confirmed to be infected on April 9, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in a statement, adding that Khoo Teck Puat Hospital has reached out to his family and is extending assistance to them. He has not been identified as being linked to any previous clusters.
A 77-year-old resident of Vanguard Healthcare's Woodlands Care Home was among the new cases. The Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) said in a statement yesterday that he is in an isolation room at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital.
The senior care centre located at Woodlands Care Home has remained open during the circuit breaker to care for clients with no alternative arrangements, but it will now be closed, AIC said.
Alternative arrangements have been made for the centre's clients, while another centre has been appointed as a replacement, it added.
As had been the case in recent days, the bulk of yesterday's record 386 cases came from foreign worker dormitories.
Four new clusters have also been uncovered, at facade installation company CitiWall in Kaki Bukit Crescent, ABC Hostel in Jalan Kubor, Tech Park Crescent dormitory and Kranji Dormitory.
The S11 dormitory cluster, however, still stands as Singapore's biggest cluster with 586 cases.
Separately, the Early Childhood Development Agency (ECDA) said the E-Bridge Preschool in Corporation Drive is shutting temporarily, after a child who was last at the centre on April 7 tested positive for Covid-19. It said yesterday that the centre will be closed until April 21 and contact tracing is under way. The premises will undergo thorough cleaning and disinfection, it added.
The centre will resume limited service provision thereafter to serve parents who are working in essential services and unable to extend their alternative care arrangements beyond the closure period.
In total, 280 of the new cases are linked to previous clusters.
The MOH also said that another 26 patients were discharged yesterday, bringing the total of those who have fully recovered to 586.
Of the 1,158 confirmed cases still in hospital, most are stable or improving, while 29 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.
The latest cases bring Singapore's total to 2,918.
Contact tracing is under way for currently unlinked cases to establish any connections to known clusters or previous cases, MOH said.
In the past week, it has uncovered links for 316 previously unlinked cases. These include 77 additional cases tied to the cluster at Sungei Tengah Lodge, which now has 157 confirmed cases, and 22 additional cases linked to the cluster at Toh Guan Dormitory, which has a total of 67 cases.
It also closed the cluster linked to the private dinner at Safra Jurong with no new cases emerging from the cluster in the past 28 days.
As of noon yesterday, MOH said it had identified 28,333 close contacts who have been quarantined.
Of these, 11,583 are currently quarantined, while 16,750 have completed their quarantine.
