Of 40 new COVID cases in Singapore, 30 in community
SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed 40 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore on Friday (21 May), taking the country's total case count to 61,770.
Of them, 30 are local transmissions in the community, of whom 22 are linked to previous cases. Among them, 16 had already been quarantined earlier.
Friday marks the 26th consecutive day with local cases reported.
Ten remaining cases are imported, including three Singaporeans and five permanent residents who returned from India, Indonesia, and the US. The other two imported cases are work permit holders who arrived from Indonesia and the Philippines, both of whom are foreign domestic workers.
"Amongst the new cases today, 14 are asymptomatic, and were detected from our proactive screening and surveillance, while 26 were symptomatic," said the MOH.
The ministry also identified three new clusters on Friday, including one linked to the "first case of school-based transmission" at Anglo-Chinese School (Junior), according to the Ministry of Education.
The eight unlinked community cases, aged between 17 and 40, are:
a 31-year-old Singaporean man employed by Hong Ye Group as a cleaner at Changi Business Park
a 29-year-old male Indian national who works as a sales personnel at Platinum Yoga (visited Westgate recently)
a 17-year-old Singaporean boy who is unemployed
a 34-year-old Singaporean man who works as a technician at Singapore Refining Company
a 40-year-old Singaporean man who works as an operations personnel at The Meatery SG
a 28-year-old Singaporean woman who is a homemaker
a 27-year-old Malaysian man who works as a delivery rider for IVIC Logistic and McDonald’s (Bedok Reservoir)
a 20-year-old Singaporean woman who is a National University of Singapore (NUS) student and a part-time retail staff at Hijabville (visited Westgate recently)
Three of the unlinked cases did not seek medical treatment till three to six days later: the delivery rider, the homemaker, and the NUS student.
Separately, there are eight cases linked to previous infections, all of whom are family members or household contacts, or both, of confirmed cases. Four had already been quarantined earlier:
a 40-year-old Singaporean man who works as an engineer at Flexicon Singapore
a 30-year-old Filipino woman who is a foreign domestic worker
a 31-year-old Indonesian woman who is a foreign domestic worker
a 49-year-old female PR who works as an administrative staff at the Republic of Singapore Yacht Club (received first dose of vaccine)
The other four cases had not been quarantined earlier, including a 22-year-old Malaysian woman who works at Seagate Singapore International Headquarters linked to an infected colleague. The remaining three cases are linked to unlinked cases confirmed on Friday:
a 29-year-old Singaporean man who works at Slide and Hide System
a 27-year-old Malaysian man who works as a delivery rider for IVIC Logistic and McDonald’s (Pasir Ris Elias Community Club)
a 39-year-old Singaporean woman who works as an administrative personnel at Tomoe Transtech Specialty Gases
The ministry added that the number of new cases in the community has increased from 91 in the week before to 196 in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also increased from 13 in the week before to 56 in the past week.
Several new places have also been added to the list of public venues visited by infectious community cases, including Masjid Jamae (Chulia), Far East Plaza, and a McDonald's outlet at 51@AMK.
UPDATE: 26 active COVID clusters in Singapore: 3 new, 1 closed https://t.co/6q0EOcwb8i pic.twitter.com/vUVSoop5RR
— Yahoo Singapore (@YahooSG) May 21, 2021
Three new clusters, each linked to 3 cases
The OM Universal cluster, linked to four cases, has been closed as there have been no more cases linked to it for the past two incubation periods, or 28 days, bringing the total number of active clusters in Singapore to 26, including three new clusters announced on Friday.
1. Pacific Law Corporation cluster: The first case linked to it is a 57-year-old female Singaporean who works as an administrative personnel at the company and was confirmed to have COVID-19 on 16 May. The third case to be added is a 40-year-old Singaporean man, a family member and household contact of the woman's colleague who is also infected. He was placed on quarantine on 19 May.
2. "Case 63376" cluster: It is named after the case number of a 46-year-old Singaporean woman who is a DBS investment banker and was confirmed to have COVID-19 on 17 May. The third case to be added is the second Anglo-Chinese School (Junior) student in the cluster: an 11-year-old Singaporean boy who was placed on quarantine on 20 May. The cluster contains the first case of school-based transmission.
3. "Case 63479" cluster: It is named after the case number of a 49-year-old female PR who is a homemaker and was confirmed to have COVID-19 on 20 May. The third case to be added is her family member and household contact: an 11-year-old Burmese boy who is a Bukit View Primary School student placed on quarantine on 19 May.
Changi Airport cluster: 4 new cases; 104 in total
The Changi Airport cluster, or the "Case 62873" cluster, is now linked to 104 cases and the largest of 26 active clusters as well as of its kind ever recorded in Singapore.
At least 22 cases in the cluster have tested preliminarily positive for the India variant, or B.1.617. Less than half, or 43 cases, work at the airport.
It is named after an 88-year-old Singaporean man who is a cleaner deployed at T3. The fully-vaccinated man was confirmed to have COVID-19 on 5 May.
All of Friday's four new cases, aged between 38 and 70, do not work at the airport. Three of them are family members or household contacts, or both, of previous cases and had been quarantined earlier:
a 68-year-old Singaporean man who is unemployed
a 70-year-old Singaporean man who is a retiree
a 38-year-old Singaporean woman who works at Samiko Enterprises & PPP International Group
The fourth new case linked to the cluster is a 57-year-old PR who works at Standard Chartered Bank. The fully-vaccinated man had visited T3 on 2 May.
Changi Prison Complex cluster: 2 new cases; 10 in total
The cluster at the prison was first linked to a 39-year-old male China national who is a chef at its complex. The fully-vaccinated man was confirmed to have COVID-19 on 13 May.
The two latest additions, both Singaporean men, aged 66 and 40, who are inmates there, bring the total number of inmates in the cluster to seven. The older man had been fully vaccinated.
Jin Tai Tong Food Industries cluster: 1 new case, 9 in total
One of five new clusters announced on Wednesday, it was first linked to a 55-year-old Singaporean man who works as a warehouse assistant at Jin Tai Mart and was confirmed to have COVID-19 on 15 May.
The latest addition to the cluster also works at the mart and had been quarantined earlier: a 35-year-old Malaysian man who is employed as a sales assistant there.
'Case 63236' cluster: 1 new case, 5 in total
The cluster is named after the case number of a 53-year-old Singaporean man who works as a personal chauffeur and confirmed to have COVID-19 on 14 May. The man also tested preliminarily positive for the India variant, or B.1.617.
The latest addition to the cluster is his family member and household contact: a 51-year-old Singaporean woman who works at UOB Kay Hian and had been quarantined earlier.
'Case 63357' cluster: 3 new cases, 12 in total
The cluster is named after the case number of a 32-year-old Singaporean man who works as an IT engineer at AbbVie Operations Singapore and was confirmed to have COVID-19 on 16 May.
The three new cases added to the cluster are his close contacts and had been quarantined earlier:
a 1-year-old Singaporean boy who is a student at Skool4kidz Centre at Punggol Way and AWWA Early Intervention Centre @ Fernvale
a 34-year-old Singaporean man who works as a Standard Chartered Bank associate
a 41-year-old Singaporean woman who is a homemaker
99% of total cases have recovered, 4 in ICU
With 13 more patients discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities on Friday, 61,242 cases – or 99.1 per cent of the total – have fully recovered from the infection.
Most of the 249 hospitalised cases are stable or improving, while four of them are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.
A total of 247 patients – with mild symptoms or are clinically well but still test positive – are isolated and cared for at community facilities.
Apart from the 32 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.
Among the 265 confirmed cases reported from 15 to 21 May, 44 cases have tested positive for their serology tests, 130 have tested negative, and 91 serology test results are pending.
Read more about Singapore's Phase 2 (Heightened Alert) restrictions here.
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