7 new community COVID-19 cases in Singapore, including new cluster linked to karaoke lounge manager
Phoenix Entertainment Karaoke TV Music Lounge at Yuan Ching Road. (Image: Google Street View)
SINGAPORE: Singapore reported seven new COVID-19 infections in the community as of noon on Friday (Jun 4), its lowest in more than three weeks.
One community case is unlinked, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in an update on Friday evening. The other six community cases are linked to previous infections.
This is the lowest number of new cases in the community since May 10 when three infections were reported. The daily number of community cases had remained in the double digits since then.
Six imported cases were also reported on Friday, comprising two Singaporeans and four permanent residents who returned from India and the United Arab Emirates. All of them were placed on stay-home notice upon their arrival in Singapore.
No new infections were reported in migrant workers' dormitories.
In all, Singapore reported 13 new COVID-19 cases on Friday.
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2 NEW CLUSTERS, ONE LINKED TO KARAOKE LOUNGE MANAGER
Two new clusters have been identified.
One of the new clusters is linked to a 68-year-old Singaporean man who works as a manager at Phoenix Entertainment Karaoke TV Music Lounge, located at Yuan Ching Road. The man tested positive on May 30.
Two community cases reported on Friday are household contacts of the KTV lounge manager. The first is a 64-year-old Singaporean who works as a cleaner at the karaoke lounge.
The fully vaccinated woman had last gone to work on May 15. The woman was quarantined on May 30 and tested negative for COVID-19 on May 31. She was asymptomatic, and she was tested again on Jun 2. Her test result came back positive for COVID-19 the next day.
Her serology test result is negative for the N antigen, which suggests the presence of early infection, said MOH.
The other case in this cluster is a 34-year-old Malaysian who works as a car groomer at Kok Wang Car Grooming. He is a household contact of both the manager and the cleaner and was quarantined on May 30.
He tested negative for COVID-19 on May 31. He was asymptomatic, and was detected when he was tested again on Jun 3. His serology test result is negative. This cluster now has three infections.
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The other new cluster is linked to a 56-year-old Singaporean woman who is a homemaker.
Two new community cases have been linked to her. In addition to a previously confirmed case, this cluster now has four infections.
The new cases reported on Friday are a 31-year-old Singaporean who works as a technical officer at Fugro Singapore Land and a 31-year-old Singaporean woman who works as an administrative staff member at Citibank.
Both of them are family members and household contacts of the 56-year-old woman and other cases in the cluster.
HONG YE GROUP CLEANERS CLUSTER
Two more cases have been linked to the Hong Ye Group cleaners cluster, bringing the total number of infections in the cluster to 27.
The first case is an eight-year-old Singaporean student who had already been quarantined. The Fuhua Primary School student was last in school on May 18 and is a family member and household contact of two previously confirmed COVID-19 cases.
The boy was quarantined on Jun 1. He was tested for COVID-19 on Jun 2, and developed a cough and fever on the same day. His test result came back positive for COVID-19 on Jun 3 and his serology result is negative.
The second case linked to this cluster is a 38-year-old Singaporean who works as a driver at Wongso Limousine Services, and is deployed by Certis Cisco to take people placed in quarantine to government quarantine facilities.
"At work, he dons full personal protective equipment (PPE), including N95 mask, face shield, gown and gloves," said MOH.
He transported two cases in his vehicle on May 23 who were later confirmed to have COVID-19, and were linked to the Hong Ye Group cleaners cluster. The driver developed a fever on Jun 1 and sought medical treatment at a hospital on Jun 3, where he was tested for COVID-19.
His test result came back positive for COVID-19 on the same day and his serology test result is pending.
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HWA CHONG STUDENT IS SOLE UNLINKED CASE
The sole unlinked case reported on Friday is a 19-year-old Singaporean student at Hwa Chong Institution. The teenager was last in school on May 18.
He developed a fever, sore throat and body aches on Jun 2 and sought medical treatment at a general practitioner clinic on Jun 3, where he underwent both an antigen rapid test (ART) and a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test. He was immediately isolated when his ART result came back positive.
His PCR test result also came back positive for COVID-19 on the same day while his serology test result is pending.
23 MORE CASES DISCHARGED
Overall, the number of new cases in the community has increased from 137 cases in the week before to 139 cases in the past week.
The number of unlinked cases in the community has also increased from 21 cases in the week before to 23 cases in the past week.
Among the 188 cases reported from May 29 to Jun 4, 74 cases have tested positive for their serology tests while 99 have tested negative. Another 15 serology test results are pending.
MOH also added a new location to its list of places visited by COVID-19 community cases during their infectious period. The NTUC FairPrice supermarket at Seletar Mall was visited on Jun 1, from 7.55pm to 8.30pm.
Twenty-three more cases have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities, bringing Singapore's total recoveries to 61,580.
There are 229 cases still in hospital. Most of them are stable or improving, and two are in critical condition in the intensive care unit. Another 316 cases are isolated and cared for at community facilities.
As of Friday, Singapore has reported a total of 62,158 COVID-19 cases and 33 fatalities from the disease.
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Visits to all residential care homes serving the elderly will be temporarily suspended amid recent cases of COVID-19 transmission in the community, MOH said separately on Friday.
The suspension will run for about two weeks from Jun 5 to Jun 20, both dates inclusive, and is aimed at reducing the risk of importing COVID-19 into such settings, and the risk of cross-transmission.
Mandatory COVID-19 testing for residents and visitors of Block 506 Hougang Avenue 8 and shop employees at seven nearby blocks started on Friday.
This is the second round of testing for Block 506. It comes after new COVID-19 cases and viral fragments in wastewater samples were detected at blocks in the area.
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