285 MORE CASES DISCHARGED, 123 NEW CASES OF COVID-19 INFECTION CONFIRMED

1.      As of 20 July 2020, 12pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and verified an additional 123 cases of COVID-19 infection in Singapore. The breakdown of the cases is as follows:

a)      Imported cases: 2 (1 Work Pass holder, 1 Work Permit holder)

Both imported cases, who are Work Pass holders currently employed in Singapore, arrived in Singapore from the Philippines on 8 July. They had been placed on 14-day Stay-Home Notice (SHN) upon arrival in Singapore, and had been tested while serving their SHN.

b)      Cases in the community: 11 (5 Singaporeans, 1 Work Pass holder, 5 Work Permit holders)

Of the 11 cases in the community, 9 were picked up as a result of our proactive surveillance and screening, and 2 had already been placed on quarantine earlier. 9 of the cases are asymptomatic, and were detected through our proactive testing.

6 of the community cases today are linked to previous cases or clusters. Of these, 2 (Cases 48059 and 48102) had been identified as contacts of previously confirmed cases, and had been placed on quarantine earlier. They were tested during quarantine to determine their status. The remaining 4 cases (Cases 48041, 48042, 48043 and 48044) are all asymptomatic, and were identified as a result of our periodic screening of workers in essential services who are living outside the dormitories.

5 of the community cases are currently unlinked. They are all asymptomatic, and were detected from our proactive screening. Of these, 2 cases (Cases 48046 and 48047) were swabbed as they work in essential services. The remaining 3 cases (Cases 48056, 48057 and 48058) were tested as part of our efforts to screen individuals working in frontline COVID-19 operations.

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 10 per day in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also decreased, from an average of 8 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 5 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: 110

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, 93% are linked to known clusters, while the rest are pending contact tracing.

Links between previous cases found

4.      In the past week (13 July to 19 July), MOH has uncovered links for 2 previously unlinked cases in the community.

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.      285 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 44,371 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.

7.      There are currently 183 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and none is in the intensive care unit. 3,454 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.