4 new Covid-19 cases in community linked to cluster at Bukit Panjang transport hub
SINGAPORE — Singapore has confirmed 278 new cases of Covid-19, including four that are imported and four that are in the community. The remaining 270 are migrant workers staying in dormitories.
In a press release on Thursday (July 30), the Ministry of Health (MOH) said that the four imported cases include three work pass holders and a work permit holder.
The three work pass holders had arrived from India between July 15 and 18 while the work permit holder from Indonesia arrived in Singapore on July 18.
They had been placed on a 14-day stay-home notice at dedicated facilities and tested positive for Covid-19 while serving the notice, MOH said.
Of the four cases in the community, one is a Singaporean and three are work permit holders from Malaysia. They are all linked to the cluster at Bukit Panjang Integrated Transport Hub, MOH said.
“They are asymptomatic, and were detected as part of our proactive case-finding of individuals working at a newly emergent workplace cluster,” MOH said.
The ministry added that serological tests were conducted on these four cases.
A serological test is used to check if a person had an infection in the past, or on someone who is asymptomatic or has a very low viral load.
“The results for all four cases have come back positive, which indicate likely past infections,” MOH said.
“As a precautionary measure, MOH is working with the Land Transport Authority to arrange for close contacts of these cases to be tested. Epidemiological investigations are ongoing.”
Overall, the number of new cases in the community has gone down from an average of nine a day in the week before, to an average of three a day in the past week, MOH said.
The number of cases in the community with no known sources of infection has also gone down from an average of five a day in the week before, to an average of one 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.
UPDATES ON THE REMAINING CASES
In all, the total number of infections in Singapore now stands at 51,809.
Of these, 46,308 people have fully recovered and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities, including the 210 on Thursday.
There are still 148 patients in hospitals and most are in stable condition or improving. No one is in critical condition under intensive care.
Another 5,326 patients 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-seven people have died from complications due to Covid-19.
