842 more cases discharged, 570 new cases of COVID-19 infection confirmed

1. As of 20 May 2020, 12pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and verified an additional 570 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 community¹: 8 (2 Singaporeans/Permanent Residents, 1 Work Pass holder, 5 Work Permit holders)

The number of new cases in the community has decreased, from an average of 8 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 5 per day in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also decreased, from an average of 3 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 2 per day in the past week. We will continue to closely monitor these numbers, as well as the cases detected through our surveillance programme.

Of the 5 cases involving Work Permit holders, 2 had been identified as contacts of earlier confirmed cases, and had already been placed on quarantine. Epidemiological investigations are ongoing for the other cases.

c) Cases residing in dormitories: 562

We continue to pick up many more 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 construction site at Project Glory (50 Market Street) 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 (13 May to 19 May), MOH has uncovered links for 7 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.

Cases from public healthcare sector

Case 29069

7. Case 29069 is a 30 year-old female Filipino national who is a Singapore Work Pass holder and has no recent travel history to affected countries or regions. She was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 19 May, and is currently warded at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.

8. She is employed as a nurse at Ren Ci Community Hospital but had not gone to work since onset of symptoms.

Update on condition of confirmed cases

9. 842 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 11,207 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.

10. There are currently 954 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and 11 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit. 17,181 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. 22 have passed away from complications due to COVID-19 infection.

[1] Previously we had tracked the work permit holders living outside dormitories as a separate category, and put a large number of these workers on Stay Home Notices (SHN). The SHN for these workers has since expired. Hence we have now updated the definition of “Cases in the Community” to include all cases (including amongst Work Permit holders) who are detected outside of the dormitories.

MINISTRY OF HEALTH
20 MAY 2020