268 More Cases Discharged, 248 New Cases of COVID-19 Infection Confirmed

    As of 16 July 2020, 12pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and verified an additional 248 cases of COVID-19 infection in Singapore. The breakdown of the cases is as follows:

a) Imported cases: 4 (3 Singaporeans/ Permanent Residents, 1 Work Pass holder)

Amongst the 4 imported cases, 3 (Cases 47084, 47087 and 47091) are Singaporeans/ Permanent Residents who returned from the USA on 3 July and Azerbaijan on 4 July. The remaining case (Case 47058) is a Work Pass holder who is currently employed in Singapore. She arrived in Singapore from Indonesia on 4 July. All of them 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 (2 Singaporeans, 5 Work Pass holders, 2 Work Permit holders, 2 Dependant’s Pass holders)

Of the 11 cases in the community, 8 were picked up as a result of our proactive surveillance and screening, and 2 had already been placed on quarantine earlier. 10 of the cases are asymptomatic, and were detected through our proactive testing. 

5 of the community cases today are linked to previous cases or clusters. They are all asymptomatic and were detected from proactive screening. Of these, 2 cases (Cases 47173 and 47174) had been identified as contacts of previously confirmed cases, and had been tested during their quarantine to determine their status. Another 2 cases (Cases 47086 and 47088) were swabbed as part of our periodic screening of workers in the construction sector. The remaining case (Case 47181) was identified as we test individuals working in frontline COVID-19 operations. 

6 of the community cases are currently unlinked. Of these, 5 cases (Cases 47085, 47090, 47092, 47093 and 47170) are asymptomatic, and had been detected as a result of our screening of workers in essential services who are living outside the dormitories. Epidemiological investigations are ongoing for the remaining case (Case 47204), who was swabbed under our enhanced community testing to test all individuals aged 13 and above who are diagnosed with acute respiratory infection at first presentation to a doctor. This allows us to detect infected individuals early and to quickly contain further spread. 

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 16 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 12 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 7 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: 233

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, 96% are linked to known clusters, while the rest are pending contact tracing. 

Links between previous cases found

4.   In the past week (9 July to 15 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.   268 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 43,256 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities. 

7.   There are currently 146 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and none is in the intensive care unit. 3,697 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. 

MINISTRY OF HEALTH
16 JULY 2020