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S'porean woman, 80, among 544 new COVID-19 cases; 3 more dorm clusters identified

 A man in a face mask seen getting a haircut at a barbershop in Little India. (PHOTO: Dhany Osman / Yahoo News Singapore)
A man in a face mask seen getting a haircut at a barbershop in Little India. (PHOTO: Dhany Osman / Yahoo News Singapore)

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed on Tuesday (2 June) 544 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore – including an 80-year-old Singaporean woman – bringing the total to 35,836.

Three additional clusters linked to dormitories were also identified at 6 Tuas View Square, 65 & 67 Tuas View Walk 2, and 18 Woodlands Industrial Park E1.

Of the 544 new cases, 540 are foreign workers living in dorms, said the ministry. The remaining four, all cases in the community, are the 80-year-old woman as well as two work pass holders and one work permit holder residing outside dorms.

The elderly Singaporean is a family member of a previously confirmed case, and had already been placed on quarantine earlier, said the MOH.

Amongst foreign workers residing outside dorms, one, an asymptomatic 33-year-old Indian national, had been picked up during a screening of migrant workers working in essential services, added the ministry.

The other two, both previous contacts of confirmed cases, are a 47-year-old male Indian national and a 41-year-old male Chinese national. One had already been placed on quarantine earlier, while epidemiological investigations are ongoing for the remaining case, the MOH said.

It added that the number of new cases in the community has decreased from an average of seven cases per day in the week before, to an average of four per day in the past week.

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

Overall, only one per cent of new cases have no established links.

The MOH has been publishing a list of locations visited by cases in the community for over 30 minutes since last Monday.

This list – which excludes residences, workplaces, healthcare facilities, and public transport – will be updated on a rolling 14-day basis or one incubation period, the ministry said.

As a precautionary measure, the MOH advised those who had been at these locations during the specified timings to monitor their health closely for 14 days from their date of visit.

They have also been urged by the ministry to visit the doctor if they develop symptoms such as cough, sore throat, as well as fever and loss of taste or smell, and inform the doctor of their exposure history.

Table: Ministry of Health
(SOURCE: Ministry of Health)

Dozens of clusters linked to foreign worker dorms have been identified thus far, including Singapore’s largest cluster of 2,711 cases linked to S11 Dormitory@Punggol, followed by Sungei Tengah Lodge with 1,994 cases, Tuas View Dormitory with 1,385 cases and Jurong Penjuru Dormitory with 1,378 cases.

The four are among the 25 dorms that have been gazetted as isolation areas and account for some 22 per cent of 33,567 total infected foreign workers living in dorms.

Some 400,000 such workers live in dorms here in Singapore.

National Development Minister and co-chair of the COVID-19 multi-ministry taskforce Lawrence Wong had at a 12 May press conference said that some 20,000 infected foreign workers are expected to be discharged by end-May.

Over 23,000 cases discharged

With 709 more patients discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities, a total of 23,175 – over 60 per cent of total cases here – here have fully recovered from the infection, said the MOH on Tuesday.

Most of the 331 hospitalised cases are stable or improving, while six are in critical condition in the intensive care unit, down from seven on Monday.

A total of 12,306 patients with mild symptoms or are clinically well but still test positive are isolated and cared for at community facilities.

Apart from 24 patients who have died from COVID-19 complications, nine others who tested positive for the virus have died from unrelated causes, including three whose deaths were attributed to a heart attack and two whose deaths were attributed to coronary heart disease.

“Only cases where the attending doctor or pathologist attributes the primary or underlying cause of death as due to COVID-19 infection will be added to the COVID-19 death count,” said the MOH in previous press releases, adding that the method of assessment is consistent with international practices for classifying deaths.

As of 25 May, the ministry has conducted 334,691 swab tests, of which 218,996 were done on unique individuals. This translates to around 58,700 swabs conducted per 1 million total population, and about 38,400 unique individuals swabbed per 1 million total population.

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