511 More Cases Discharged, 215 New Cases of COVID-19 Infection Confirmed

            As of 1 July 2020, 12pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and verified an additional 215 cases of COVID-19 infection in Singapore. The breakdown is as follows:

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

All 3 Singaporeans/ Permanent Residents (Cases 43950, 44155 and 44156) had returned to Singapore from Pakistan on 19 June and 20 June. They were  placed on Stay-Home Notice upon arrival in Singapore, and had been conveyed in separate dedicated transport to SHN facilities to commence their 14-day isolation. They are asymptomatic, and had been tested while serving their SHN.

The remaining case (Case 44158) had been tested upon arrival at Tanjong Pagar Terminal, and was isolated while awaiting his test result.

b)    Cases in the community: 10 (6 Singaporeans, 4 Work Permit holders)

Of the 10 cases in the community, 2 had been picked up as a result of our proactive surveillance and screening, and 3 had already been placed on quarantine earlier.

Amongst the 6 Singaporean cases, 1 (Case 44052) had been identified as a contact of a previously confirmed case, and had already been quarantined earlier. Epidemiological investigations are ongoing for the remaining cases, of whom 3 (Cases 44073, 44075 and 44118) had been swabbed under our enhanced community testing after being diagnosed with acute respiratory infection.

Amongst the 4 Work Permit holders, 2 (Cases 44051 and 44053) been identified as contacts of previously confirmed cases, and had already been quarantined earlier. They were tested during quarantine to verify their status, even though they are asymptomatic. The remaining 2 cases (Cases 44076 and 44137) are also asymptomatic and were detected due to our proactive screening of workers in essential services.

Besides the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, we also conducted serological tests to determine if some of these cases are current or past infections.[1] The serological test result for Case 44076 has come back positive, which indicates likely past infection. The test results for the remaining cases are pending.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has increased, from an average of 4 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 8 per day in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also increased, from an average of 2 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 4 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: 201

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, 95% are linked to known clusters, while the rest are pending contact tracing.

4.             MOH has been monitoring existing clusters for any further transmission. As there have been no more cases linked to the dormitories at 48 Toh Guan Road East and 7 Senoko South Road for the past two incubation periods (i.e. 28 days), the clusters have now been closed.

Links between previous cases found

5.             In the past week (24 June to 30 June), MOH has uncovered links for 7 previously unlinked cases.

6.             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

7.             511 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 39,011 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.

8.             There are currently 209 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. 4,876 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.

[1] Cases whose serological tests are positive are likely to have a past infection, and could be shedding minute fragments of the virus RNA picked by the PCR test, which were no longer transmissible and infective to others.