All 48 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore are asymptomatic
SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed 48 new COVID-19 cases as of Thursday (3 September) afternoon, bringing the country’s total to 56,908.
All the new cases were asymptomatic. Of them, two were cases in the community, five were imported cases and the remaining 41 were cases residing in dormitories.
Both cases in the community – a permanent resident and a work permit holder – are currently unlinked and were picked up as a result of surveillance and screening, even though they are asymptomatic. Cases 57012 and 57022 were detected as a result of Rostered Routine Testing of workers in the construction, marine and process sectors who are living outside the dormitories. Case 57022’s serological test result has come back positive, indicating a likely past infection.
Epidemiological investigations of the cases are in progress.
Overall, 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. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also increased, from an average of one case per day in the week before, to an average of two per day in the past week.
Among the five imported cases, three (57026, 57033 and 57034) – two Singaporeans and a permanent residents – had returned to Singapore from Bangladesh on 31 August, India on 22 August and the UAE on 22 August. Another case (57014) is a long-term visit pass holder who arrived from India on 23 August. The remaining case (57035) is a work permit holder currently employed in Singapore who arrived from the Philippines on 22 August. All of them had been placed on 14-day Stay-Home Notice (SHN) upon arrival in Singapore, and had been tested while serving their SHN at dedicated facilities.
Among the 41 cases residing in dormitories, 22 had been identified earlier as contacts of previous cases, and had already been quarantined to prevent further transmission. They were tested during quarantine to determine their status.
The remaining 19 cases were detected through surveillance testing, such as the bi-weekly Rostered Routine Testing of workers living in dormitories.
Besides the polymerase chain reaction test, serological tests have been conduced to determine if some of these cases are current or past infections. The serological test results for 22 cases have come back positive so far, which indicate likely past infections.
There were two more clusters identified – at Cochrane Lodge II (49 Admiralty Road West) with 14 cases and at Westlite Toh Guan dormitory (18 Toh Guan Road East) with 18 cases.
Over 56,000 cases discharged; no patient in ICU
With 137 more patients discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities on Thursday, 56,028 cases – or 98.4 per cent of the total – have fully recovered from the infection.
Most of the 52 hospitalised cases are stable or improving, while none is in critical condition in the intensive care unit.
A total of 801 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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