322 more cases discharged, 517 new cases of COVID-19 infection confirmed

1. As of 4 June 2020, 12pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and verified an additional 517 cases of COVID-19 infection in Singapore. The breakdown is as follows:

a) Imported cases: 0

There are no imported cases today.

b) Cases in the community: 15 (2 Permanent Residents, 6 Work Pass holders, 7 Work Permit holders)

All 15 cases were close contacts of earlier confirmed cases, and had already been placed on quarantine. They are all asymptomatic, but we had swabbed them to confirm and verify their status during quarantine. Besides the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, we also conducted serological tests to determine if these are current or past infections.¹

Of the 15 cases, 13 (including 1 Permanent Resident) reside in a shophouse at Veerasamy Road with an earlier confirmed case (Case 33273). Amongst them, 3 have positive serological test results, which is indicative of past infections. 8 serological tests have come back negative, and 2 results are pending.

The remaining Work Pass holder was a housemate of an earlier confirmed case (Case 33599) at Bendemeer Road, and has been quarantined at a government quarantine facility since 30 May. His serological test has come back positive, which is indicative of a past infection.

The remaining Permanent Resident case is a household contact of previously confirmed cases (Cases 21538 and 29273), and has been placed on quarantine since 7 May. Epidemiological investigations are ongoing to determine if this is a past infection.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has increased, from an average of 5 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 6 per day in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has remained stable at an average of 2 per day in the past two weeks. We will continue to closely monitor these numbers, as well as the cases detected through our surveillance programme.

c) Cases residing in dormitories: 502

We continue to pick up many 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. MOH has been monitoring existing clusters for any further transmission. As there have been no more cases linked to the dormitory at 3 Buroh Lane for the past two incubation periods (i.e. 28 days), the cluster has now been closed.

Links between previous cases found

5. In the past week (28 May to 3 June), MOH has uncovered links for 5 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. 322 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 23,904 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.

8. There are currently 303 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and 5 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit. 12,691 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. 24 have passed away from complications due to COVID-19 infection.

[1] Cases whose serological tests are positive are likely 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.

MINISTRY OF HEALTH
4 JUNE 2020