515 More Cases Discharged, 246 New Cases of COVID-19 Infection Confirmed

          As of 30 June 2020, 12pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and verified an additional 246 cases of COVID-19 infection in Singapore. The breakdown is as follows:

a)            Imported cases: 1 (1 Permanent Resident)

There is an imported case today involving a Singapore Permanent Resident who had returned to Singapore from India on 24 June 2020. She was placed on Stay-Home Notice upon arrival in Singapore, and had been conveyed in a dedicated transport to an SHN facility to commence her 14-day isolation. She developed symptoms during SHN.

b)            Cases in the community: 5^[1]  (2 Singaporeans, 3 Work Permit holders)

Of the 5 cases in the community, 4 had been picked up as a result of our proactive surveillance and screening.

Amongst the 2 Singaporean cases, 1 (Case 43712) was detected due to our proactive surveillance of persons deployed to frontline COVID-19 operations, even though he is asymptomatic. Epidemiological investigations are ongoing for the remaining case (Case 43703).

Amongst the 3 Work Permit holders, 2 (Cases 43890 and 43891) had been swabbed as part of our proactive screening of workers in essential services. The remaining case (Case 43711) is asymptomatic, and had been tested as he works in frontline COVID-19 operations.  

Besides the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, we also conducted serological tests to determine if some of these cases are current or past infections.^[2] The serological test results for Cases 43711 and 43712 have come back positive, which indicate likely past infections. The test results for the remaining cases are pending.

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

c)            Cases residing in dormitories: 240

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, 98% are linked to known clusters, while the rest are pending contact tracing.

Links between previous cases found

4.            In the past week (23 June to 29 June), MOH has uncovered links for 3 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.            515 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 38,500 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.

7.            There are currently 215 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. 5,166 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
30 JUNE 2020

^[1]  Updated from the afternoon press release as one case has been classified as imported following contact tracing.
^[2]  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.