16 more cases discharged; 35 new cases of COVID-19 infection confirmed

                16 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities (Cases 203, 228, 321, 357, 398, 629, 210, 239, 247, 253, 263, 280, 345, 376, 466 and 486). In all, 228 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged.

2.             As of 30 March 2020, 12pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and verified an additional 35 cases of COVID-19 infection in Singapore, of which nine are imported and 26 are local cases who have no recent travel history abroad.
•      The nine imported cases^[1] had travel history to Europe, North America, South America, Middle East and ASEAN.
•      12 cases^[2] are linked to previous cases or clusters.
•       14 cases^[3] are currently unlinked, and contact tracing is ongoing.

Links between previous cases found

3.             Further epidemiological investigations and contact tracing have uncovered links between previously announced and new cases. This was made possible with the assistance of the Singapore Police Force.

a)        47 of the confirmed cases (Cases 94, 96, 107, 112, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 120, 121, 122, 125, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 133, 134, 137, 139, 140, 142, 144, 145, 146, 148, 149, 150, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 164, 166, 174, 179, 185, 186, 196, 201, 218 and 224) are linked to a private dinner function at SAFRA Jurong on 15 February. Two (Cases 142 and 144) are linked to boulder+ Gym and Church of Singapore (Bukit Timah).

               i.         Six of the confirmed cases (Cases 142, 162, 163, 305, 345 and 443) are linked to boulder+ Gym (12 Kallang Avenue).

              ii.         Five of the confirmed cases (Cases 144, 208, 214, 235 and 283) are linked to the Church of Singapore (Bukit Timah) (2B Hindhede Road).

b)        Three  of the confirmed cases (Cases 183, 252 and 310) are linked to Masjid Al-Muttaqin (5140 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 6).

c)         26 of the confirmed cases^[4] are linked to a cluster at PCF Sparkletots Preschool @ Fengshan Blk 126 (126 Bedok North Street 2). 16 of the cases^[5] are staff at the preschool, and 10^[6] are family members of Case 601.

d)         Eight of the confirmed cases (Cases 556, 618, 626, 662, 686, 713, 729 and 761) are linked to a cluster at Dover Court International School (301 Dover Road). Seven are staff at the school and Case 729 is a contact of Case 618.

e)        Five of the confirmed cases (Cases 581, 689, 724, 740 and 796) are linked to a cluster at SingPost Centre (10 Eunos Road 8).

f)          Three of the confirmed cases (Cases 745, 802 and 810) are linked to a cluster at The Wedding Brocade (1 Yishun Industrial Street 1).

g)        Four of the confirmed cases (Cases 826, 829, 852 and 860) are linked to a new cluster at S11 Dormitory @ Punggol (2 Seletar North Link).

h)        Seven of the confirmed cases (Cases 439, 678, 793, 818, 848, 864 and 873) are linked to a new cluster at Wilby Residences (25 Wilby Road).

i)          Five of the confirmed cases (Cases 192, 556, 657, 670 and 813) are linked to a new cluster at Hero’s (69 Circular Road).

4.             Contact tracing is underway for 79 locally transmitted cases to establish any links to previous cases or travel history to affected countries or regions.

5.             Please refer to the Annex for a summary of the confirmed cases.

Cases from public healthcare sector

6.             Case 853 is a 20 year-old male Malaysian national who is a Singapore Work Pass holder, and had been in Malaysia from 16 March to 17 March. He reported onset of symptoms on 28 March, and subsequent test results confirmed COVID-19 infection on 29 March afternoon. He is currently warded in an isolation room at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.

7.             He is employed as a porter at NCID, and had not gone to work after onset of symptoms.

Update on condition of confirmed cases

8.             To date, a total of 228 cases have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities.

9.             Of the 420 confirmed cases who are still in hospital, most are stable or improving. 19 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit. 228 cases who are clinically well but still test positive for COVID-19 are isolated and cared for at Concord International Hospital, Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Gleneagles Hospital and the Community Isolation Facility at D’Resort NTUC. Three have passed away from complications due to COVID-19 infection.

Update on contact tracing for confirmed cases

10.          Contact tracing for the confirmed cases is ongoing. Once identified, MOH will closely monitor all close contacts. As a precautionary measure, they will be quarantined for 14 days from their last exposure to the patient. In addition, all other identified contacts who have a low risk of being infected will be under active surveillance, and will be contacted daily to monitor their health status.

11.          As of 30 March 2020, 12pm, MOH has identified 12,984 close contacts who have been quarantined. Of these, 4,737 are currently quarantined, and 8,247 have completed their quarantine.

^[1] Cases 847, 851, 857, 858, 862, 871, 872, 874 and 877.

^[2] Cases 845, 848, 849, 852, 860, 861, 863, 864, 865, 867, 870 and 873.

^[3] Cases 846, 850, 853, 854, 855, 856, 859, 866, 868, 869, 875, 876, 878 and 879.

^[4] Cases 516, 521, 566, 567, 572, 583, 584, 601, 602, 603, 604, 605, 609, 610, 612, 614, 617, 624, 638, 660, 705, 706, 707, 708, 716 and 746.

^[5] Cases 516, 583, 584, 601, 602, 603, 604, 605, 609, 610, 612, 614, 617, 624, 660 and 716.

^[6] Cases 521, 566, 567, 572, 638, 705, 706, 707, 708 and 746.