132 new Covid-19 cases in Singapore, including 1 in the community and 6 imported

A resident being swabbed for testing by medical personnel at Westlite Papan Dormitory on April 21, 2020. PHOTO: ST FILE

SINGAPORE - There were 132 new coronavirus cases confirmed as of Saturday noon (Aug 8), taking Singapore's total to 54,929.

They included one community case - a Singaporean, said the Ministry of Health (MOH).

There were also six imported cases who had been placed on stay-home notices upon arrival in Singapore.

Migrant workers residing in a few standalone blocks in dormitories that serve as quarantine facilities made up the vast majority of the other cases.

More details will be announced on Saturday night.

On Friday, the sole community case announced by the ministry was a 67-year-old Singaporean man who was detected under enhanced community testing for those aged 13 and above who are diagnosed with acute respiratory infection at first presentation to a doctor.

He is not linked to other cases.

Such testing allows for quick identification of infected persons early to contain further spread, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said, adding that investigations are in progress.

There were also six imported cases who had been placed on stay-home notices upon arrival, said MOH. They comprise a Singaporean and a permanent resident who were returning home, two work pass holders who are currently employed in Singapore, a dependant's pass holder and a long-term visit pass holder.

They all arrived in Singapore from India between July 25 and 27. All were placed on 14-day stay-home notices upon arrival, and were tested while serving their notices at dedicated facilities.

Migrant workers staying in dormitories made up the remaining 235 patients.

A new coronavirus cluster - a dormitory at 66 Tech Park Crescent in Tuas - was announced on Friday. The cluster is linked to four previous cases, said MOH.

It is the first cluster to be announced since July 27, when a new case was linked to four previous cases, forming a cluster at a dorm at Sungei Kadut Street 2.

The ministry also updated that the Inter-agency Taskforce has completed the testing of all workers in the dormitories, except for a few standalone blocks in the dorms that serve as quarantine facilities.

"The workers in these quarantine facilities will be tested when their isolation ends, and we expect the case counts to remain high in the coming days, before tapering down thereafter," MOH added.

Meanwhile, the Golden Village cinema at Jurong Point, ABC Brickworks Market and Food Centre in Jalan Bukit Merah, Tang Tea House in Jurong West and the Sheng Siong supermarket at Woodlands Industrial Park were added to the list of places visited by Covid-19 patients while they were infectious.

The ministry provides the list of locations and the times that infectious Covid-19 patients visited them for at least 30 minutes to get those who were at these places at specific periods to monitor their health closely for two weeks from the date of their visit.

The full list of locations and times can be found on MOH's website.

The ministry has said that close contacts would already have been notified and there is no need to avoid these places as they would have been cleaned, if needed.

It said the average number of new daily cases in the community has decreased from three cases two weeks ago to two in the past week.

The average number of unlinked cases in the community has remained stable at an average of one case per day in the past two weeks.

With 281 cases discharged on Friday, 48,297 patients have fully recovered from the disease.

A total of 124 patients remain in hospital, with none in the intensive care unit, while 6,334 are recuperating in community facilities.

Singapore has had 27 deaths from Covid-19 complications, while 15 who tested positive have died of other causes. Globally, the virus outbreak, which began in December last year, has infected over 19.5 million people. More than 722,000 people have died.

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