50 new Covid-19 infections in Singapore, including 5 imported and 2 community cases
SINGAPORE — Singapore has confirmed 50 new cases of Covid-19, including five that are imported and two in the community.
Both community cases are unlinked and involve a pair of Singaporean women aged 63 and 56, the Ministry of Health said in a statement on Saturday (Aug 22).
The 56-year-old — case 56323 — had gone to work at the Institute of Technical Education College Central campus in Ang Mo Kio after developing symptoms on Aug 19. Her infection was confirmed on Aug 21.
"Case 56323 was detected under our enhanced community testing to test all individuals aged 13 and above who are diagnosed with acute respiratory infection at first presentation to a doctor. This allows us to identify infected individuals early and to quickly contain further spread," said MOH.
The 63-year woman had been tested after being admitted to a hospital for another medical condition.
All the five imported cases had all been placed on Stay-Home Notice at dedicated facilities upon arrival in Singapore and had been tested while serving it.
These include a 50-year-old Singaporean man who returned to Singapore from Iran on Aug 10. Another two are Dependant’s Pass holders who arrived from India and the Netherlands on Aug 10.
Another case is a Work Permit holder currently employed in Singapore who arrived from the Philippines on Aug 9. The remaining case is a Student’s Pass holder who arrived from India on Aug 8.
"Overall, the number of new cases in the community has remained stable at an average of two cases per day in the past two weeks," said MOH, adding that the number of unlinked cases in the community has also remained stable at an average of one case per day in the past two weeks.
MOH also added six new locations to a list of places visited by Covid-19 patients while they were infectious. These include a food court and a Korean restaurant at ITE College Central.
UPDATE ON REMAINING CASES
The 50 new cases including 43 in foreign worker dormitories.
MOH said further epidemiological investigations and contact tracing have uncovered links between previously announced and new cases.
Two of the newly confirmed cases are linked to 55 previous cases to form a new cluster at Sungei Tengah Lodge at 500 Old Choa Chu Kang Road.
MOH noted that the inter-agency taskforce set up to support migrant workers and dormitory operators has completed the testing of all workers in the dormitories.
"There are currently about 13,700 workers who are still serving out their quarantine period. These workers will be tested when their quarantine ends, and we expect the case counts to remain high in the coming days, before tapering down thereafter," said MOH.
The total number of cases in Singapore now stand at 56,266.
Of these, 53,920 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities, including 269 on Saturday.
There are currently 81 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and none is in the intensive care unit, said MOH
Another 2,238 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.
To date, 27 have passed away from complications due to Covid-19 infection.
