196 More Cases Discharged; 347 New Cases of COVID-19 Infection Confirmed

                As of 14 July 2020, 12pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and verified an additional 347 cases of COVID-19 infection in Singapore. The breakdown of the cases is as follows:

  a)  Imported cases: 2 (2 Singaporeans)

There are 2 imported cases today who are both Singaporeans who returned to Singapore from India on 9 July. They had been placed on 14-day Stay-Home Notice (SHN) upon arrival in Singapore, and had been tested while serving SHN.

  b)  Cases in the community: 7 (1 Singaporean, 3 Work Pass holders, 3 Work Permit holders)

Of the 7 cases in the community, 4 were picked up as a result of our proactive surveillance and screening, and 3 had already been placed on quarantine earlier. 6 of the cases are asymptomatic, and were detected through our proactive testing.

3 of the community cases (Cases 46715, 46716 and 46722) today are linked to previous cases or clusters. They had all been identified as contacts of previously confirmed cases, and had been tested during their quarantine to determine their status, even though they are asymptomatic.

4 of the community cases are currently unlinked. They are all in the construction sector, and had been swabbed as part of our periodic screening of workers in essential services who are living outside the dormitories. 3 of them (Cases 46385, 46386 and 46387) are asymptomatic.

Epidemiological investigations of the unlinked cases are in progress. In the meantime, all the identified close contacts of the cases 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 their household contacts to determine if these cases could have been infected by them.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has decreased, from an average of 14 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 13 per day in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has increased, from an average of 6 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 7 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: 338

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, 99% are linked to known clusters, while the rest are pending contact tracing.

4.            We have to date tested and cleared more than 215,000 workers (or two-thirds of those living in dormitories). Work is ongoing to prepare these dormitories to be declared cleared, and for workers to resume work. We are on track to clear about 80% of workers staying in the dormitories by end-July, and to complete the testing of dormitory residents around mid-August. In the next few days, we have a larger population of migrant workers in various purpose-built dormitories completing their isolation period and being tested for COVID-19. As some of them came from dormitories with higher prevalence of COVID-19 infection, we can expect a higher number of confirmed cases in the next few days from this group of migrant workers.

Links between previous cases found

5.            In the past week (7 July to 13 July), MOH has uncovered links for 9 previously unlinked cases.

6.            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

7.            196 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 42,737 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.

8.            There are currently 161 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and none is in the intensive care unit. 3,704 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.

9.            Case 17168, a 62 year-old male Singapore Citizen, has passed away from complications due to COVID-19 infection on 14 July 2020. He was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 30 April, and had a history of diabetes mellitus, hypertension and hyperlipidaemia. Sengkang General Hospital has reached out to his family and is extending assistance to them.

MINISTRY OF HEALTH
14 JULY 2020