157 new Covid-19 cases in Singapore, including students and teacher from 5 schools
SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) on Tuesday (July 7) reported 157 new cases of Covid-19 in Singapore, with 20 of these being cases in the community and three that were imported.
Among the new cases are four students and a teacher from Assumption Pathway School, the Ministry of Education (MOE) said.
The students — who each go to Bedok View Secondary School, East Spring Primary School, Jurong West Primary School and Jurong West Secondary School — are “linked to household infections”, it added.
They were already quarantined at home and were tested because they are close contacts of their household members.
“These students were well when they were last in school the previous week.” MOE said. Investigations are ongoing for the 57-year-old teacher from Assumption Pathway School.
About 60 students and 10 staff members each in Assumption Pathway School, East Spring Primary School, Jurong West Primary School and Jurong West Secondary School who were in contact with the confirmed cases have been issued a 14-day leave of absence by MOE or a home quarantine order by MOH.
“For Bedok View Secondary School, as the student was last in school on June 30, MOH has assessed the risk of infection for students and staff to be low. Hence, no leave of absence or home quarantine order has been issued,” MOE said.
“We would also like to assure all parents and students that while we can expect to see such confirmed cases from time to time through a more extensive Covid-19 testing regime, we will continue to quickly isolate those who are at risk of infection.”
TWO CHILDREN FROM INDIA INFECTED
The three imported cases confirmed on Tuesday were a 32-year-old Filipina who is a work pass holder and two children aged seven and 11 from india who are holders of the dependant’s pass — which is a pass issued to spouses and children of foreign employees working here on an S-pass and employment pass.
MOH said that all three patients had been placed on a 14-day stay-home notice upon their arrival in Singapore and had been tested while serving the notice.
Of the 20 community cases, 12 are Singaporeans or permanent residents, three are work pass holders and five are work permit holders. Among the Singaporeans, two were children aged nine and two.
MOH said that six of the 20 cases were picked up as a result of its proactive surveillance and screening, and 11 had already been placed on quarantine earlier.
Twelve of the community cases were linked to previous cases or clusters, with 11 identified as contacts of previously confirmed cases. They were thus tested during their quarantine.
The remaining one was swabbed as part of proactive screening of workers in essential services, even though he had no symptoms, MOH said.
The other eight of the 20 cases have no known links to past infections.
Of these, five were tested because they work in essential services, even though they are all asymptomatic. The remaining three were swabbed under the enhanced community testing protocol to test all individuals aged 13 and above who are diagnosed with acute respiratory infection at first presentation to a doctor.
Overall, MOH noted that the number of new cases in the community has gone up from an average of eight a day in the week before to an average of 14 a day in the past week.
The number of unlinked cases in the community has also increased from an average of four cases a day in the week before to an average of six a day in the past week.
“We will continue to closely monitor these numbers, as well as the cases detected through our surveillance programme,” MOH said.
The remaining 134 infections among the new cases were linked to migrant workers living in dormitories.
UPDATE ON THE REMAINING CASES
The total number of infections here now stands at 45,140.
Out of that, 41,002 people have fully recovered from the Covid-19 infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities, including the 285 on Tuesday.
There are still 219 patients in hospitals. Of these, most are in stable condition or improving, and one patient is in critical condition under intensive care.
MOH said that 3,893 people are isolated and cared for at community facilities. These are those who have mild symptoms, or are clinically well but still test positive for Covid-19.
Twenty-six people have died from complications due to Covid-19.
