Singapore confirms 63 new COVID-19 cases, 2 more dorm clusters

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed 63 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore as of Thursday (10 September), bringing the country’s total to 57,229.

It announced two additional clusters linked to dormitories: Avery Lodge Dormitory at 2D Jalan Papan and PPT Lodge 1A at 8 Seletar North Link.

The ministry also added Chinese hotpot restaurant Yaleju-Tong Bei Huo Guo, located at 149 Geylang Road, to a list of public venues visited by community cases while infectious.

Of the 63 new cases, 56 – or some 89 per cent – are asymptomatic, and were proactively detected, said the MOH.

Two – including a Singaporean – are classified as cases in the community, while six – including one Singaporean – are imported. The remaining 55 cases are foreign workers living in dorms, of which 26 make up part of 35 cases linked to the new cluster at Avery Lodge.

Overall, three per cent of the new cases have no established links.

Of the two community cases in the community, the Singaporean – case 57312 – is linked to previous imported cases – 57145, 57186, and 57272 – who are his family members. They had returned from India on 24 August, and were the stay-home notice at a dedicated facility upon their arrival here.

“While case 57312 had not travelled overseas with them, he had requested to take care of his spouse and young children at the stay-home-notice facility, and was isolated with them from 24 August,” said the MOH.

The other case is currently unlinked and was detected via the rostered routine testing of workers in the construction, marine, and process sectors who are living outside the dorms.

Amongst the six imported cases, one is a Singaporean who returned to Singapore from the UAE on 29 August. Another four are work pass or permit holders currently employed in Singapore who arrived from Bangladesh on 31 August, and Indonesia and Russia on 29 August.

The remaining case is a student’s pass holder who arrived from the Philippines on 27 August.

All of them had been placed on 14-day stay-home notice upon their arrival here, and had been tested while serving their notice at dedicated facilities, the MOH said.

The ministry also noted that the number of new cases in the community has decreased, from an average of three cases per day in the week before, to an average of two per day in the past week.

Similarly, the number of unlinked cases in the community has also decreased, from an average of two cases per day in the week before, to an average of one per day in the past week.

29 cases in dorms detected via surveillance testing

Amongst the 55 cases residing in dorms, 26 had been identified earlier as contacts of previous cases and quarantined, and tested during quarantine, said the MOH.

The remaining 29 cases were detected through surveillance testing, it added.

Of the 26 from Avery Lodge, the majority had been placed on quarantine earlier and were tested during quarantine to determine their status, said the MOH.

Besides the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, or swab test, serological tests were also conducted to determine if some of the cases are current or past infections.

“The serological test results for seven cases have come back positive so far, which indicate likely past infections,” said the ministry.

Such workers living in dorms make up 94.4 per cent – or 54,030 cases – of Singapore’s total COVID-19 tally.

Some 99% of total cases have recovered

With 66 more patients discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities on Thursday, 56,558 cases – or 98.8% of the total – have fully recovered from the infection.

Most of the 47 hospitalised cases are stable or improving, while none is in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

A total of 597 patients with mild symptoms or are clinically well but still test positive are isolated and cared for at community facilities.

Apart from 27 patients who have died from COVID-19 complications, 15 others who tested positive for the virus were determined to have died from unrelated causes, including three whose deaths were attributed to a heart attack and another four, whose deaths were attributed to coronary heart disease.

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