754 More Cases Discharged; 463 New Cases of COVID-19 Infection Confirmed

                As of 12 June 2020, 12pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and verified an additional 463 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: 18 (8 Singaporeans/Permanent Residents, 2 Work Pass holders, 8 Work Permit holders)

Of the 18 cases in the community, 11 had been picked up as a result of our proactive surveillance and screening, and 6 had already been placed on quarantine.

Amongst the 8 Singaporeans/Permanent Residents, 6 had been tested as part of our proactive surveillance of persons who work at dormitories. Of these, 4 are asymptomatic. 1 (Case 39732) had been identified as a close contact of previously confirmed cases, and had already been placed on quarantine earlier. He was asymptomatic, and had been swabbed during quarantine to verify his status. Epidemiological investigations are ongoing for the remaining case (Case 39808).

Amongst the 10 Work Pass/ Work Permit holders, 3 (Cases 39581, 39582  and 39600) had been detected due to our proactive surveillance of persons working at dormitories, even though they are all asymptomatic. 2 cases (Case 39450 and 39852) were swabbed as part of our efforts to screen workers in essential services. 5 other cases were close contacts of previously confirmed cases, and had already been quarantined at government quarantine facilities. They are asymptomatic, and had been swabbed during quarantine to verify their status.

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 results of 4 cases (Cases 39729, 39732, 39859 and 39882) have come back positive, which indicate likely past infections. Results are pending for the rest.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has increased, from an average of 6 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 1 case 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. We will continue to closely monitor these numbers, as well as the cases detected through our surveillance programme.

  c)   Cases residing in dormitories: 445

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 has been monitoring existing clusters for any further transmission. As there have been no more cases linked to the dormitory at 50A Tuas Link 4 for the past two incubation periods (i.e. 28 days), the cluster has now been closed.

Links between previous cases found

5.            In the past week (5 June to 11 June), MOH has uncovered links for 11 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.            754 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 28,040 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.

8.            There are currently 239 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and 2 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit. 11,546 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.

^[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.