All 41 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore asymptomatic

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed 41 new COVID-19 cases as of Monday (31 August), bringing the country’s total to 56,812.

All new cases are asymptomatic and were proactively detected via screening and surveillance, the MOH said.

Of them, three – all work pass or permit holders – are classified as cases in the community, while seven – including six Singapore residents – are imported, and the remaining 31 cases are foreign workers living in dormitories.

Overall, 15 per cent of the new cases have no established links.

All three cases in the community are currently unlinked and were detected via the rostered routine testing of workers in the construction, marine, and process sectors who are living outside the dorms, said the MOH.

The serological test result for two have come back positive, which indicate likely past infection, it added.

Epidemiological investigations of the cases are in progress, while all the identified close contacts of the cases have been isolated and placed on quarantine. They will be tested at the start and end of their quarantine period.

Serological tests will also be conducted for their household contacts to determine if they could have been infected by them, said the MOH.

Amongst the seven imported cases, six are Singaporeans or permanent residents who returned here from India between 17 and 19 August, and Malaysia on 17 August. The remaining case is a work permit holder currently employed in Singapore who arrived from India on 19 August.

All had been placed on 14-day stay-home notice upon arrival here and had been tested while serving their notice at dedicated facilities, said the MOH.

The ministry noted that the number of new cases in the community has increased from an average of two cases per day in the week before to an average of three per day in the past week.

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

Amongst the 31 cases residing in dorms, 16 had been identified earlier as contacts of previous cases and were tested during quarantine, said the MOH.

The remaining 15 cases were detected via surveillance testing. The MOH said it conducted serological tests to determine if some of these cases are current or past infections.

“The serological test results for 11 cases have come back positive so far, which indicate likely past infections,” it added.

Overall, such workers make up 94.5 per cent – or 53,663 cases – of Singapore’s total COVID-19 tally.

Former nursing home staff tested positive back in home country

In a separate press release on Monday night, the Agency for Integrated Care said that a former care staff at Lee Ah Mooi Old Age Home at 148A Silat Avenue has tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday in the Philippines, after returning home.

The worker was last at the nursing home on 26 August and she did not display any symptoms, it added.

All 90 staff and residents who might have been in contact with the case had been tested for COVID-19 and the results were negative. As a precaution, the nursing home has suspended visits to its premises.

Over 55,600 cases discharged; no patient in ICU

With 72 more patients discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities on Monday, 55,658 cases – or 98 per cent of the total – have fully recovered from the infection.

Most of the 78 hospitalised cases are stable or improving, while none is in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

A total of 1,049 patients with mild symptoms or are clinically well but still test positive are isolated and cared for at community facilities.

Apart from 27 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.

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