655 More Cases Discharged; 451 New Cases Of COVID-19 Infection Confirmed

         As of 10 June 2020, 12pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and verified an additional 451 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: 7 (3 Singaporeans/Permanent Residents, 1 Work Pass holder, 3 Work Permit holders)

Of the 7 cases in the community, 2 had already been quarantined and 4 were proactively screened as part of our surveillance and active case finding to identify cases early and isolate them.

Amongst the 3 Singaporeans/Permanent Residents, 1 (Case 38555) is a household contact of a previously confirmed case, and had already been quarantined. Another (Case 38741) is a security guard at a dormitory at 31 Sungei Kadut Avenue, and was proactively tested as part of our screening of persons working at dormitories. Epidemiological investigations are ongoing for the remaining case (Case 38697).All 4 Work Pass/ Work Permit holders are asymptomatic but we had detected them from our active surveillance and screening. Amongst them, 2 (Cases 38632 and 38857) were tested due to our proactive screening of workers in essential services, and another (Case 38633) was swabbed as he works as a security guard at Hai Leck Engineering Pte Ltd  (12 Tuas Drive 1), an active cluster. The remaining case (Case 38635) is a housemate of previously confirmed cases, and had already been quarantined in a government quarantine facility earlier. He was swabbed during quarantine to verify his status.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 9 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. This is partly due to our active surveillance and screening of targeted groups, which have picked up more cases in the past week [1]. We will continue to closely monitor these numbers, as well as the cases detected through our surveillance programme.c) Cases residing in dormitories: 444
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, 98% are linked to known clusters, while the rest are pending contact tracing.

4.      MOH and the Ministry of Education had announced on 7 June that 6 cases [2] of COVID-19 infection had been picked up as a result of our proactive testing of school staff and students above the age of 12 diagnosed with acute respiratory infection at first presentation to a doctor. All 6 cases had displayed mild symptoms, with low viral loads. A repeat test using new samples showed that all the cases were negative. All of them have since recovered and 5 have been discharged from hospital. The remaining case is medically fit for discharge, but remains in hospital pending resolution of administrative issues.

5.      The Health Sciences Authority, in consultation with its Medicines Advisory Committee, has granted conditional approval for Gilead Sciences Singapore Pte Ltd’s Veklury® (remdesivir) today, after an expedited review. Singapore is among the earliest countries to grant an approval for the medicine. MOH is working with the National Centre for Infectious Diseases on developing guidelines for the appropriate use of the drug in healthcare institutions, and identifying the patients who are likely to benefit most from this medicine.

Links between previous cases found6.      In the past week (3 June to 9 June), MOH has uncovered links for 4 previously unlinked cases.

7.      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.

Cases from public healthcare sectorCase 386978.      Case 38697 is a 38 year-old female Singapore Citizen who has no recent travel history to affected countries or regions. She was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 9 June, and is currently warded at Singapore General Hospital (SGH).

9.      She is employed as a nurse at National Heart Centre Singapore but had not gone to work since onset of symptoms.

Update on condition of confirmed cases 

10.    655 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 26,532 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.

11.    There are currently 223 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and 3 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit. 12,185 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. 25 have passed away from complications due to COVID-19 infection.

MINISTRY OF HEALTH
10 JUNE 2020

[1] These include surveillance testing of workers in essential services, staff in preschools, and school staff and students above the age of 12 who are diagnosed with acute respiratory infection (ARI) at first presentation to a doctor, as well as those with prolonged ARI symptoms.

[2] MOE announced five cases from from Anglican High School, CHIJ Katong Convent, CHIJ St. Theresa’s Convent, Geylang Methodist Secondary School and Hwa Chong Institution. The sixth case is from Ascensia International School.