The number of coronavirus cases in Singapore crossed several milestones yesterday - hitting 1,000 cases and setting a record for the highest number of cases announced in a day.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) announced 74 new cases and two new clusters, including the first at an old folks' home.
A further 10 cases have now been linked to the Lee Ah Mooi Old Age Home at 1 Thomson Lane after one case was first identified there on Tuesday. Among the new cases is a 102-year-old woman, the oldest Covid-19 patient to date in Singapore.
The Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) said that eight of the 10 new cases are residents of the home while the others are a staff member who cared for female residents of the home, and a family member of that staff member.
The family member also works in a home, the Moral Home for the Aged Sick, though he is not in a patient-facing role.
"AIC has also been in contact with Moral Home, which has stepped up vigilance in monitoring the health status of residents and staff. So far, all its residents are well," the agency said.
The Lee Ah Mooi home had worked with MOH and AIC to test all the home's residents and symptomatic staff after the first confirmed case was identified on Tuesday. All staff of the home are on a quarantine order, and MOH and AIC are helping the home with manpower support, so that residents will not be affected.
The second new cluster was at a dormitory at 55 Sungei Kadut Loop. Two new cases are linked to a previous case from that dormitory.
There are now at least three dormitories with active clusters.
Yesterday, there were six more cases at the S11 dormitory at Seletar North Link, making it a total of 10 confirmed cases, and two more cases at the Westlite Toh Guan dormitory in Jurong East, bringing the total to seven confirmed cases.
There is also one more case linked to the Wilby Residences serviced apartments, bringing the total number of cases there to eight, and one more case linked to the cluster at Hero's, the bar in Circular Road, which now has a total of seven cases.
Three more people in the public healthcare sector have also tested positive: a 29-year-old clinical research coordinator at Singapore General Hospital (SGH), a 37-year-old nurse at SGH who had recently travelled to the United Arab Emirates, and a 26-year-old doctor at Ng Teng Fong General Hospital. There are now at least eight cases among people who work in public healthcare institutions.
All in, there were 54 local cases yesterday, also a record high for the number of local cases in one day. Only 20 of the 74 new cases are imported. Of the local cases, 29 are linked to previous cases and clusters, while 25 are currently unlinked.
Five more cases were also discharged from hospitals and community isolation facilities, with the number of those recovered now at 245.
Of the 461 confirmed cases who are still in hospital, most are stable or improving. There are 24 in critical condition in the intensive care unit.
There are 291 cases who are clinically well and being isolated because they still test positive.
Singapore has reported three deaths from the virus since the first case was reported here on Jan 23.
Separately yesterday, Unity Pharmacy and FairPrice reported that they each had a confirmed case, though it is unclear if the workers were included in the ministry's latest count.
The Unity Pharmacy employee was last at work at the outlet at Nex mall on Monday and tested positive yesterday. Unity Pharmacy said it is closing its outlet at Nex for two days for cleaning and will reopen tomorrow.
FairPrice said it has closed its FairPrice Finest supermarket in Bedok Mall after one of its staff tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday. It has also put all staff who work in the store on leave of absence.
The employee, who works at replenishing stock and last worked on March 25, has minimal contact with customers.
The Bedok Mall supermarket is closed for deep cleaning until Saturday, and FairPrice is helping the authorities with contact tracing.
