168 More Cases Discharged; 77 New Cases of COVID-19 Infection Confirmed

  As of 27 August 2020, 12pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and verified an additional 77 cases of COVID-19 infection in Singapore. The breakdown of the cases is as follows: 

Summary of new cases

a)      Imported cases: 5 (2 Singaporeans/Permanent Residents, 1 Dependant’s Pass holder, 1 Long-Term Visit Pass holder, 1 Special Pass holder)

Amongst the 5 imported cases, 2 (Cases 56594 and 56595) are Singaporeans/ Permanent Residents who returned to Singapore from India on 14 August and 15 August. Another 2 (Cases 56642 and 56649) are Dependant’s Pass and Long-Term Pass holders who arrived from India on 15 August and China on 16 August. All of them had been placed on 14-day Stay-Home Notice (SHN) upon arrival in Singapore, and had been tested while serving their SHN.

The remaining case (Case 56621) is a seaman who is a Special Pass holder. He arrived in Singapore from India on 8 August on a vessel, where he had not disembarked from. As he had been identified as a close contact of previous cases on the same vessel earlier announced by MOH, he had been placed on quarantine and was tested during quarantine to determine his status. 

b)      Cases in the community: 2 (2 Singaporeans) 

Both cases in the community were detected under our enhanced community testing to test all individuals aged 13 and above who are diagnosed with acute respiratory infection (ARI) at first presentation to a doctor. This allows us to identify infected individuals early and to quickly contain further spread.

1 of the cases today is linked to a previous case. Epidemiological investigations found that Case 56626 had visited SLR Revolution at Excelsior Shopping Centre (5 Coleman Street) on 17 August 2020 and may have had contact with Case 56184, who had gone to work at the shop during his infectious period. The risk of infection for visitors is assessed to be low. However as a precautionary measure, MOH will be contacting all individuals who had visited the shop between 15 August and 18 August, and facilitating COVID-19 testing for them. Those who are unwell when contacted will be conveyed to the hospital for further medical assessment. We advise all visitors to SLR Revolution at Excelsior Shopping Centre during the affected dates to monitor their health and seek medical attention promptly should they develop acute respiratory infection symptoms. They may call MOH at 1800-333-9999 if they have queries.

The other community case (Case 56627) is currently unlinked. Epidemiological investigations of the case are in progress. In the meantime, all the identified close contacts of the case have been isolated and placed on quarantine, and will be tested at the start and end of their quarantine period so that we can detect asymptomatic cases. We will also conduct serological tests for his household contacts to determine if he could have been infected by them.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has increased, from an average of 1 case per day in the week before, to an average of 2 per day in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has remained stable at an average of 1 case per day in the past 2 weeks. We will continue to closely monitor these numbers, as well as the cases detected through our surveillance programme. 

c)      Cases residing in dormitories: 70 

Amongst the 70 cases residing in dormitories, 66 had been identified earlier as contacts of previous cases, and had already been quarantined to prevent further transmission. They were tested during quarantine to determine their status. 

The remaining 4 cases were detected through surveillance testing, such as our bi-weekly Rostered Routine Testing of workers living in dormitories and testing of those with ARI symptoms. This allows us to pick up cases early, including asymptomatic ones, so that we are able to ring-fence them quickly to prevent further transmission, by aggressively containing, tracing and isolating the close contacts. 

Besides the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, we have also conducted serological tests to determine if some of these cases are current or past infections. [1] The serological test results for 8 cases have come back positive so far, which indicate likely past infections. 

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, 97% are imported or linked to known cases/ clusters, while the rest are pending contact tracing.

4.      The following dormitories have been cleared by the Inter-agency Taskforce, and now house only recovered individuals and those who have recently tested negative for COVID-19 infection. As such, the clusters have now been closed.

• HSJV Dormitory

• 85 Kallang Dormitory

• SJ Dormitory

• Tuas South Apartments

• Woodlands Dormitory

• Woodlands Lodge I

• 9 Benoi Crescent

• 12 Defu Lane 7

• 25 Kaki Bukit Industrial Terrace

• 40 Kaki Bukit Industrial Terrace

• 80 Kaki Bukit Industrial Terrace

• 19 Kian Teck Avenue

• 7 Kian Teck Crescent

• 19 Kian Teck Road

• 12 Loyang Drive

• 47 Senoko Drive

• 5 Sixth Lok Yang Road

• 4 Sungei Kadut Street 2

• 6 Sungei Kadut Street 2

• 72 Tagore Lane

• 1020 Tai Seng Avenue

• 2 Tech Park Crescent

• 7 Tech Park Crescent

• 80 Tuas Avenue 1

• 3 Tuas Drive 1

• 51H Tuas South Avenue 1

• 69 Tuas South Avenue 1

• 128 Tuas South Avenue 3

• 6 Tuas South Street 2

• 81 Tuas South Street 5

• 57 Tuas View Walk 2

• 67 Tuas View Walk 2

• 11 Woodlands Industrial Park E1

• 210 Woodlands Industrial Park E5

• 212 Woodlands Industrial Park E5

• Clementi N2C3 construction site

• The Florence Residences construction site

• Grandwork Building

• Hai Leck Engineering Pte Ltd

• Stirling Residences construction site

• TTJ Design & Engineering Pte Ltd 

Links between previous cases found

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.      168 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 55,139 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.

7.      There are currently 66 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and none is in the intensive care unit. 1,340 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. 27 have passed away from complications due to COVID-19 infection. 

MINISTRY OF HEALTH
27 AUGUST 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.