29 More Cases Discharged, 1,426 New Cases of COVID-19 Infection Confirmed

       As of 20 April 2020, 12pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and verified an additional 1,426 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 community: 25 (18 Singaporeans/Permanent Residents [1] and 7 Work Passes)

The number of new cases in the community has decreased, from an average of 39 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 29 per day in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has remained relatively constant, with an average of 20 cases per day for the past two weeks. We will continue to closely monitor these numbers, as well as the cases detected through our surveillance programme.

c) Work Permit holders (residing outside dormitories): 32

The number of new cases amongst Work Permit holders residing outside dormitories has continued to increase, from an average of 13 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 24 per day in the past week.  

d) Work Permit holders (residing in dormitories): 1,369

The main increase today continues to be for Work Permit holders residing in dormitories, where we are picking up many more cases because of extensive testing. These are not new infections as the workers are staying in their rooms and many have not reported sick. But when the teams go in to test them, many turn out to be positive. Most of these cases have a mild illness and are being monitored in the community isolation facilities or general ward of our hospitals. None of them is in the intensive care unit. 

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, 63% are linked to known clusters, while the rest are pending contact tracing. 

Links between previous cases found

4.       In the past week (13 April to 19 April), MOH has uncovered links for 484 previously unlinked cases. 

5.    Further epidemiological investigations and contact tracing have uncovered links between previously announced and new cases. Please refer to Annex B for details.

Update on condition of confirmed cases

6.    29 more cases [2] of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 787 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. 

7.      Of the 3,420 confirmed cases who are still in hospital, most are stable or improving. 23 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit. 3,782 cases who are clinically well but still test positive for COVID-19 are isolated and cared for at community facilities. 11 have passed away from complications due to COVID-19 infection.

MINISTRY OF HEALTH
20 APRIL 2020

[1] Updated from the afternoon press release as two more cases had been classified following contact tracing.

[2] Cases 35, 307, 384, 413, 615, 692, 965, 1044, 1045, 1127, 1168, 1189, 1229, 1234, 1265, 1333, 1341, 1389, 1413, 1426, 1561, 1610, 1737, 1743, 1913, 2562, 2939, 4115 and 5295.