259 More Cases Discharged 178 New Cases Of COVID-19 Infection Confirmed

          As of 12 July 2020, 12pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and verified an additional 178 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 returned to Singapore from India on 6 July. She 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: 1 (1 Singaporean)

There is 1 case in the community today who had been detected as a result of our community testing of all individuals aged 13 and above who are diagnosed with acute respiratory infection at first presentation to a doctor. This allows us to identify infected individuals early and to quickly contain further spread. Epidemiological investigations 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 10 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 16 per day in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also increased, from an average of 5 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 8 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: 176

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.

4.       The Inter-Agency Task Force has been systematically and progressively clearing dormitories through aggressive testing of migrant workers residing in dormitories. The dormitories at Mandai Lodge I (460 Mandai Road), 10 Kaki Bukit Road 1 #03-32, 3 Sungei Kadut Street 6 and 9 Defu South Street 1 have been cleared, 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.

Links between previous cases found

5.       In the past week (5 July to 11 July), MOH has uncovered links for 4 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.       259 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 42,285 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.

8.       There are currently 182 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. 3,468 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

12 JULY 2020