305 More Cases Discharged, 113 New Cases of COVID-19 Infection Confirmed

          As of 25 June 2020, 12pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and verified an additional 113 cases of COVID-19 infection in Singapore. The breakdown is as follows:

a)            Imported cases: 0

There are no imported cases today. 

b)            Cases in the community: 5 (1 Singaporean, 2 Work Pass holders, 2 Work Permit holders)

Of the 5 cases in the community, 2 had been picked up as a result of our proactive surveillance and screening, and 2 had already been placed on quarantine earlier.

Epidemiological investigations are ongoing for the Singaporean case (Case 42761), who had been tested when he sought medical treatment.

All 4 Work Pass/ Work Permit holders were tested even though they are asymptomatic. Amongst them, 2 (Cases 42669 and 42684) had been identified as contacts of previously confirmed cases, and had already been quarantined at government quarantine facilities. They were swabbed during quarantine to verify their status. The remaining 2 cases (Cases 42731 and 42732) were tested as part of our efforts to screen workers in essential services. 

Besides the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, we also conducted serological tests to determine if some of these cases are current or past infections.^[1] The serological test results for four of today’s cases (Cases 42669, 42684, 42731 and 42732) have come back positive, which indicate likely past infection.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has decreased, from an average of 7 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 4 per day in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has remained stable at an average of 2 per day in the past two weeks. We will continue to closely monitor these numbers, as well as the cases detected through our surveillance programme.

c)            Cases residing in dormitories: 108

We continue to pick up cases amongst Work Permit holders residing in dormitories, including in factory-converted dormitories, because of extensive testing in these premises, as part of our process to verify and test the status of all workers.

2.            Details of these trends can be found in MOH’s daily situation Report (www.moh.gov.sg/covid-19/situation-report). Please refer to Annex A for the summary of the confirmed cases.

3.            Of the new cases, 96% are linked to known clusters, while the rest are pending contact tracing.

Links between previous cases found

4.            In the past week (18 June to 24 June), MOH has uncovered links for 8 previously unlinked cases.

5.            Further epidemiological investigations and contact tracing have uncovered links between previously announced and new cases. Please refer to Annex B and Annex C for details.

Update on condition of confirmed cases

6.            305 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 36,604 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.

7.            There are currently 189 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and 1 is in critical condition in the intensive care unit. 5,917 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. 26 have passed away from complications due to COVID-19 infection.

MINISTRY OF HEALTH
25 JUNE 2020

^[1]  Cases whose serological tests are positive are likely to have a past infection, and could be shedding minute fragments of the virus RNA picked by the PCR test, which were no longer transmissible and infective to others.