275 More Cases Discharged, 295 New Cases of COVID-19 Infection Confirmed

        As of 4 August 2020, 12pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and verified an additional 295 cases of COVID-19 infection in Singapore. The breakdown of the cases is as follows:

a) Imported cases: 7 (2 Permanent Residents, 2 Work Pass holders, 2 Dependant’s Pass holders, 1 Student’s Pass holder)

Amongst the 7 imported cases, 2 (Cases 53405 and 53406) are Singapore Permanent Residents who returned to Singapore from India on 23 July. The remaining cases also arrived recently from India. 2 (Cases 53327 and 53404) are Work Pass holders who are currently employed in Singapore, and had arrived in Singapore on 22 July and 31 July. Another 2 (Cases 53256 and 53326) are Dependant’s Pass holders who arrived on 21 July and 22 July, and the remaining case (Case 53407) is a Student’s Pass holder who arrived on 23 July. 

All of them had been placed on 14-day Stay-Home Notice (SHN) upon arrival in Singapore, and were serving their SHN at dedicated facilities. They had been tested while serving their SHN.

b) Cases in the community: 2 (1 Singaporean, 1 Work Permit holder)

Of the 2 cases in the community, 1 was picked up as a result of our proactive surveillance and screening, and 1 had already been placed on quarantine. Both cases are asymptomatic, and were detected through our proactive testing. 

1 community case today is linked to a previous case. Case 53403 had been identified as a contact of a previously confirmed case, and was tested during quarantine to determine his status, even though he is asymptomatic. 

1 community case is currently unlinked. Case 53408 was identified from our proactive screening of workers in essential services who are living outside the dormitories, even though she is asymptomatic. Epidemiological investigations of the case are in progress. In the meantime, all the identified close contacts 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.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has decreased, from an average of 4 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 2 per day in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also decreased, from an average of 2 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 1 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: 286

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, 99% are linked to known clusters, while the rest are pending contact tracing. 

4.     The Inter-Agency Task Force has been systematically and progressively clearing dormitories through aggressive testing of migrant workers residing in dormitories. The following dormitories have been cleared, and now house only recovered individuals and those who have recently tested negative for COVID-19 infection. As such, the clusters have now been closed.

• SCM Tuas Lodge (80 Tuas South Boulevard);
• Tuas View Dorm (70 Tuas South Avenue 1);
• 17 Jalan Besut;
• 5 Kian Teck Crescent;
• 8 Sungei Kadut Avenue;
• 3 Sungei Kadut Avenue;
• 115 Tuas View Walk 1;
• 117 Tuas View Walk 1; and
• 38 Woodlands Industrial Park E1 #04-18/19.
 
Links between previous cases found

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.     275 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 47,454 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities. 

7.      There are currently 125 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. 5,740 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
4 AUGUST 2020