322 more cases discharged, 125 new cases of Covid-19 infection confirmed

      As of 9 July 2020, 12pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and verified an additional 125 cases of COVID-19 infection in Singapore. The breakdown is as follows:

a) Imported cases: 1 (1 Permanent Resident)

There is an imported case today involving a Singapore Permanent Resident who returned to Singapore from India on 23 June. She had been placed on 14-day Stay-Home Notice (SHN) upon arrival in Singapore, and had been tested while serving SHN.

b) Cases in the community: 21 (4 Singaporeans/ Permanent Residents, 3 Work Pass holders, 14 Work Permit holders)

Of the 21 cases in the community, 11 were picked up as a result of our proactive surveillance and screening, and 5 had already been placed on quarantine earlier. 15 of the cases are asymptomatic, and were all detected through our proactive testing.

10 of the community cases today are linked to previous cases or clusters. Of these, 5 (Cases 45369, 45370, 45371, 45420 and 45465) had been identified as contacts of previously confirmed cases, and had been tested during their quarantine to determine their status. The remaining 5 cases (Cases 45357, 45358, 45361, 45362 and 45366) are all asymptomatic, and were detected as a result of our proactive screening of workers in essential services.

11 of the community cases are currently unlinked. Of these, 6 cases were detected from our proactive testing. 4 of them (Cases 45360, 45364, 45365 and 45422) were tested as they work in essential services, even though they are asymptomatic. The other 2 cases (Cases 45356 and 45363) were swabbed as part of our efforts to screen individuals working in frontline COVID-19 operations. Of the remaining cases, 4 (Cases 45345, 45347, 45354 and 45373) were 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 are ongoing for these cases, as well as the remaining case (Case 45379).

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has increased, from an average of 9 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 16 per day in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also increased, from an average of 4 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 8 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: 103

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. Please refer to Annex A [PDF, 33.4 KB] ↗ (opens in new tab)for the summary of the confirmed cases.

3.      Of the new cases, 91% are linked to known clusters, while the rest are pending contact tracing.

4.      We announced on 2 July that MOH has placed 58 households residing at Block 111 Tampines Street 11 under active phone surveillance and would be facilitating COVID-19 testing for them and their visitors. This is a precautionary measure after MOH had detected 9 confirmed cases from 2 households residing at the block. All infected individuals from these 2 households have been isolated earlier and are recovering in hospitals or community care facilities. In total, 123 residents and visitors have been tested so far, and all the results have come back negative for COVID-19. Epidemiological investigations are ongoing, but thus far there is no evidence of spread beyond the 2 households. MOH will continue to closely monitor the situation.

Links between previous cases found

5.      In the past week (2 July to 8 July), MOH has uncovered links for 3 previously unlinked cases.

6.      Further epidemiological investigations and contact tracing have uncovered links between previously announced and new cases. Please refer to Annex B [PDF, 18.6 KB] ↗ (opens in new tab) and Annex C [PDF, 188 KB] ↗ (opens in new tab) for details.

Update on condition of confirmed cases

7.      322 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 41,645 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.

8.      There are currently 197 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. 3,554 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. 26 have passed away from complications due to COVID-19 infection.

9.      Case 43688, a 38 year-old male Bangladeshi national, has passed away on 7 July 2020. He had been conveyed to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital on 28 June after suffering a seizure, and subsequently developed intracranial haemorrhage. He was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 28 June. The preliminary cause of death is cardiorespiratory failure, pending further investigations by the Coroner. ¹

MINISTRY OF HEALTH
9 JULY 2020

^[1] Only cases where the attending doctor or pathologist attributes the primary or underlying cause of death as due to COVID-19 infection will be added to the COVID-19 death count. This is consistent with international practice for classifying deaths.