Singapore reports nearly 450 new cases, Covid-19 tally nears 30,000

A man scans a QR code of a digital check-in system that logs every entry to facilitate contact tracing in Singapore. (AP pic)

SINGAPORE: Singapore has preliminarily confirmed another 448 positive Covid-19 cases today, with the vast majority involving migrant workers living at dormitories.

The new cases bring the republic’s total infections to 29,812.

Data at noon showed that 13 cases involved a Singaporean citizen or permanent resident, said the republic’s Ministry of Health (MOH) in a statement today.

Of these, seven cases were picked up during active surveillance and screening of nursing home residents and preschool staff, and four were part of a family cluster linked to a dormitory.

“Epidemiological investigations are ongoing for the other two cases,” the MOH said.

Yesterday, Singapore classified 1,678 as community cases, 580 as imported cases and 27,106 were foreign workers residing in dorms.

The MOH also updated the definition of “cases in the community” to now include all cases involving work permit holders not living in dormitories.

Previously, the ministry said it had tracked work permit holders living outside dormitories as a separate category and issued a large number of these workers a “stay home notice”.

The re-classification was made as the notice for these workers has since expired, it said.

Meanwhile, a cluster linked to the construction site at Project Glory of Market Street, was closed yesterday as no more cases have been linked to this place for the past two incubation periods.

As of Wednesday, the ministry said a total of 11,207 people have fully recovered and been discharged from hospital or a community care facility, while 954 cases are still in hospital, with 11 in the intensive care unit.

The MOH said 17,181 people with mild symptoms, or who were clinically well but still tested positive for Covid-19, have been isolated and are being cared for at community facilities.

To date, 22 people have died from the coronavirus in the country.

On Wednesday, the MOH identified two new clusters and said that the largest cluster in the republic – S11 Dormitory @ Punggol – now has a total of 2,586 confirmed cases.

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