2 New Cases of Locally Transmitted COVID-19 Infection

         As of 18 October 2020, 12pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and verified 2 new cases of locally transmitted COVID-19 infection. Of these, 1 is in the community, and 1 resides in a dormitory. In addition, there are 5 imported cases, who had all been placed on Stay-Home Notice (SHN) upon arrival. Amongst the new cases today, 5 are asymptomatic, and were detected from our proactive screening and surveillance, while 2 were symptomatic.  

Summary of new cases

2.      Overall, the number of new cases in the community has remained stable at an average of fewer than 1 case per day in the past 2 weeks. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also remained stable at an average of fewer than 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.

3.        Of the new cases, 71% are imported or linked to known cases/ clusters, while the rest are pending contact tracing. 

Case Details

a) Cases in the community: 1 

There is 1 case in the community today who is currently unlinked. Case 58073 was 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. He is a technician but had not gone to work after onset of symptoms. His serological test result has come back positive, which indicates likely past infection.

b) Cases residing in dormitories: 1

There is 1 case residing in a dormitory today. He was detected through our bi-weekly Rostered Routine Testing of workers living in dormitories. 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. 

c) Imported cases: 5

Amongst the 5 imported cases, 4 are currently employed in Singapore. Of these, 2 (Cases 58071 and 58072) are Work Permit holders who arrived from the Philippines and another 2 (Cases 58074 and 58075) are Work Pass holders who arrived from Greece and France. The remaining case (Case 58070) is a Student’s Pass holder who arrived from Guatemala. They had all been placed on SHN upon arrival in Singapore and were tested while serving SHN. 

4.    Details of these trends can be found in MOH’s daily situation Report (www.moh.gov.sg/covid-19/situation-report).

5.         Epidemiological investigations 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 the close contacts to determine if the cases could have been infected by them. 

Links between previous cases found

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

Update on condition of confirmed cases

7.     9 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 57,807 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities. 

8.        There are currently 40 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and none is in the intensive care unit. 36 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. 28 have passed away from complications due to COVID-19 infection. 

MINISTRY OF HEALTH
18 OCTOBER 2020