418 More Cases Discharged; 188 New Cases of COVID-19 Infection Confirmed

              As of 2 July 2020, 12pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and verified an additional 188 cases of COVID-19 infection in Singapore. The breakdown is as follows:

  a)  Imported cases: 1 (1 Work Pass holder)

There is an imported case today involving a Filipino national who had returned to Singapore from the United Kingdom on 20 June 2020. She is a Work Pass holder who is currently employed in Singapore. She was placed on Stay-Home Notice upon arrival in Singapore, and had been conveyed in a dedicated transport to an SHN facility to commence her 14-day isolation. She is asymptomatic, and had been tested while serving SHN.

  b)  Cases in the community: 10 (8 Singaporeans/Permanent Residents, 2 Work Permit holders)

Of the 10 cases in the community, 3 had been picked up as a result of our proactive surveillance and screening, and 5 had already been placed on quarantine earlier.

Amongst the 8 Singaporeans/ Permanent Residents cases, 3 (Cases 44193, 44256 and 44299) had been identified as contacts of previously confirmed cases and had already been quarantined earlier. Another 3 cases (Cases 44261, 44262 and 44263) were detected due to our proactive surveillance of persons working at dormitories, or those deployed to frontline COVID-19 operations, even though they are asymptomatic. Epidemiological investigations are ongoing for the remaining 2 cases (Cases 44167 and 44199)  who had been swabbed under our enhanced community testing after being diagnosed with acute respiratory infection.

Both Work Permit holders (Cases 44258 and 44298) had been identified as contacts of previously confirmed cases, and had already been quarantined earlier. They were tested during quarantine to verify their status.

Besides the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, we also conducted serological tests to determine if some of these cases are current or past infections.^[1] The serological test result for Cases 44261 and 44262 have come back positive, which indicate likely past infections. The test results for the remaining cases are pending.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has increased, from an average of 4 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 9 per day in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also increased, from an average of 2 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 4 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: 177

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, 98% are linked to known clusters, while the rest are pending contact tracing.

Links between previous cases found

4.             In the past week (25 June to 1 July), MOH has uncovered links for 11 previously unlinked cases.

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.             418 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 39,429 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.

7.             There are currently 201 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. 4,654 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
2 JULY 2020

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