9 new Covid-19 infections in Singapore, with 8 imported cases and 1 in foreign worker dormitory
- Of the latest cases, seven are asymptomatic, while two were symptomatic, MOH said
- First time since March 12 this year that the number of active cases has fallen below 100
- This includes 30 in hospitals and another 59 patients at community facilities
SINGAPORE — Singapore has confirmed nine new cases of Covid-19, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Friday (Oct 16).
One resides in a foreign worker dormitory and eight are imported cases. There are no infections in the wider community.
In its evening update, MOH said this is the first time since March 12 this year that the number of active cases has fallen below 100.
There are still 30 patients who are hospitalised. Most are stable or improving, and no one is under intensive care.
Another 59 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.
Of the latest cases, seven are asymptomatic, and were detected through proactive screening and surveillance, while two were symptomatic, MOH said.
The case from the dormitory, who is asymptomatic, was detected through the ministry’s fortnightly Rostered Routine Testing of workers living in dormitories, which allows the authorities to pick up cases early, including asymptomatic ones.
Among the asymptomatic imported cases are two Singaporeans — a 62-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman — who returned from the Philippines.
The other four asymptomatic cases are female work permit holders, aged between 24 and 43, who are employed in Singapore. Two had arrived from the Philippines, one had come from Indonesia while the remaining woman had arrived from Myanmar.
The other two imported cases are short-term visit pass holders.
MOH said that a 36-year-old man from India was allowed entry into Singapore as he was already receiving medical care here, and was returning for further treatment. He was taken directly to a hospital and isolated upon arrival in Singapore, and was tested later.
The remaining case is a 45-year-old Indonesian man who was a crew member onboard a ship that had arrived from his home country.
The ministry said that he did not disembark from the ship, and was swabbed on board after developing symptoms.
He had remained on the ship until his test result came back positive for Covid-19 and was then taken to a hospital.
Investigations are in progress and all the identified close contacts of the new cases have been isolated and placed on quarantine. They will be tested at the start and end of their quarantine period to detect asymptomatic cases.
The ministry will also conduct serological tests to detect past infections for the close contacts, to determine if the new cases could have been infected by them.
Overall, the number of new cases in the community has remained stable at an average of fewer than one case a day in the past two weeks.
The number of cases in the community with no known sources of infection has also dropped from an average of fewer than one case a day in the week before, to none in the past week.
From its monitoring of infections at dormitories, MOH said that the Jovell construction site, located at 27 Flora Drive in Loyang, has been taken off the list of Covid-19 clusters.
There have been no more cases linked to it for the past two incubation periods, amounting to 28 days.
UPDATE ON REMAINING CASES
The total number of Covid-19 cases in Singapore now stands at 57,901.
Of these, 57,784 have fully recovered and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities, including 20 on Friday.
So far, 28 people here have died from complications due to Covid-19.
