SINGAPORE, July 27 — A man who was among the six new community cases of Covid-19 in Singapore yesterday had met a large group of “social contacts” for sports and social activities, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said.
The health ministry warned that such behaviour increases the risk of transmission and has resulted in the man’s contacts being quarantined.
MOH said it will be investigating the case and advised members of the public to abide by the spirit of the rule to limit social gatherings to not more than five people.
In its daily update on the Covid-19 situation here, MOH said that there were five Singaporeans and a work pass holder among the cases in the community. The remaining 213 infections were linked to foreign workers living in dormitories.
The 219 cases reported yesterday bring the total number of infections here to 42,955.
Of the six cases in the community, two had been picked up as a result of the health ministry’s proactive surveillance and screening while another two had already been placed on quarantine earlier.
MOH said that among the five Singaporean cases, three had been tested after the ministry had identified them as close contacts of previous cases. Of these, two had already been quarantined and were swabbed to verify their status.
One case was detected due to the screening of people working at dormitories, even though he is asymptomatic.
Another case was confirmed as a result of the MOH’s surveillance tests for non-residential community care staff working in places like kidney dialysis centres, home care services, day hospices and senior care centres.
“Her serological test result has also come back positive, which indicates likely past infection,” MOH said.
The work pass holder was swabbed by the health ministry as he is a contact of a previous case.
Overall, MOH said that the number of new cases in the community has increased from an average of four cases a day in the week before to five a day in the past week.
The number of unlinked cases in the community has remained stable at an average of two cases a day in the past two weeks.
“We will continue to closely monitor these numbers, as well as the cases detected through our surveillance programme,” MOH said.
Cases from the public healthcare sector
MOH also identified two more infections from the public healthcare sector: A nurse at the Ng Teng Fong General Hospital (NTFGH) and a woman who works at Vanguard Senior Care Centre in Woodlands.
Case 42940
Case 42940 is a 23-year-old Singaporean man who has no recent travel history to affected countries or regions. He was confirmed to have Covid-19 infection on June 25, and is currently warded at NTFGH.
He is employed as a nurse at NTFGH but had not gone to work since the onset of symptoms.
Case 42987
Case 42987 is a 27-year-old Singaporean woman who has no recent travel history to affected countries or regions. She was confirmed to have Covid-19 infection on June 25, and is currently warded at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.
Her serological test result has come back positive, MOH said, adding that she is asymptomatic.
Prior to hospital admission, she had gone to work at Vanguard Senior Care Centre in Woodlands.
Update on the rest of the cases
In all, MOH said that 36,825 people have fully recovered from the Covid-19 infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities, including the 221 yesterday.
There are currently 183 patients who are still in hospital. Of these, most are in stable condition or improving, and one patient is in critical condition under intensive care.
MOH said that 5,921 patients 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.
Twenty-six people have died from complications due to Covid-19 infection. ― TODAY
