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COVID-19: Singapore confirms 383 new cases including 1 preschool staff, total at 32,343

SINGAPORE - MAY 24: Migrant workers dressed in new clothes and protective face masks pray during a Eid al-Fitr celebration with non-governmental organisations Migrant Workers Centre (MWC), Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS), Inter-Religious Organisation, Singapore (IRO), and Singapore Bangladesh Society in their factory converted dormitory on May 24, 2020 in Singapore. (Photo by Ore Huiying/Getty Images)
Migrant workers in Singapore pray during a Eid al-Fitr celebration in their factory converted dormitory. (PHOTO: Ore Huiying/Getty Images)

SINGAPORE – The Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed 383 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore as of Tuesday (26 May) noon, bringing the total to 32,343.

Of the cases, 381 are foreign workers living in dormitories while two are in the community comprising a Singaporean and a foreign worker.

The Singaporean is a 30-year-old female preschool staff member while the foreign worker is a 23-year-old male Malaysian work permit holder from an institute of higher learning. Both asymptomatic cases were unlinked and confirmed on Monday.

The lower number of cases is partly due to fewer tests being conducted, MOH said in a media release.

Two more places in Jurong West visited by confirmed COVID-19 cases were listed by the MOH. They are the wet market at Block 963 Jurong West Street 91 and FairPrice Xtra at Jurong Point, which were visited by the cases on 24 May.

The number of new cases in the community has increased, from an average of four cases per day in the week before, to an average of seven per day in the past week. This is partly due to active surveillance and screening of nursing home residents and pre-school staff, which have picked up more cases in the past week, the MOH said.

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

Of the new cases, 99 per cent are linked to known clusters, while the rest are unlinked and pending contact tracing. There was no reported new cluster.

Over 16,400 discharged in total

With 706 more cases of COVID-19 infection discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities, a total of 16,444 cases here have fully recovered from the infection, said the MOH.

There are currently 585 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Most of the hospitalised cases are stable or improving, while eight are in critical condition in the intensive care unit, unchanged from a day earlier.

A total of 15,291 cases with mild symptoms, or are clinically well but still test positive, are isolated and cared for at community facilities.

Dozens of clusters linked to foreign worker dorms have been identified thus far, including Singapore’s largest cluster of over 2,500 cases linked to S11 Dormitory@Punggol, followed by Sungei Tengah Lodge, Tuas View Dormitory and Jurong Penjuru Dormitory.

They are among the 25 dorms that have been gazetted as isolation areas. Some 400,000 foreign workers live in dorms here in Singapore.

Some 20,000 infected foreign workers are expected to be discharged by end-May, said National Development Minister Lawrence Wong.

Apart from 23 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.

It had also noted that 86 male foreign workers aged 25 to 59 died due to heart disease in Singapore in 2018.

As of 18 May, the ministry has conducted 294,414 swab tests, of which 191,260 were done on unique individuals.

This translates to around 51,600 swabs conducted per 1 million total population, and about 33,500 unique individuals swabbed per 1 million total population.

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