COVID-19: Singapore confirms 49 new cases; two young children among imported cases
SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed the detection of another 49 cases of COVID-19 infection as of noon on Sunday (13 September), taking Singapore’s total case count to 57,406.
There is one community case, who is a Work Pass holder, and eight imported cases, all off whom have been placed on Stay-Home Notice (SHN) upon arriving in Singapore.
Among the cases, 47 are asymptomatic, the MOH said, and were detected from proactive screening and surveillance, while two were symptomatic.
The sole community case – 57520, a 42-year-old male Indian national – is currently unlinked. The case was detected as a result of the MOH’s Rostered Routine Testing of workers in the construction, marine and process sectors who are living outside the dormitories, even though he is asymptomatic.
Among the eight imported cases, one (Case 57513) is a Singaporean and another (Case 57542) is a Singapore permanent resident who returned to Singapore from India on 5 September and 10 September.
Another four (Cases 57497, 57525, 57526 and 57527) are work permit holders currently employed in Singapore who arrived from the Philippines on 30 August. The remaining cases – Case 57533, a one-year-old Indian boy; and Case 57537, a six-year-old American girl – are dependant’s pass holders who arrived from India and the US on 30 August.
Overall, the number of new cases in the community has decreased, the MOH said, from an average of two cases per day in the week before, to an average of one per day in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also decreased, from an average of two cases per day in the week before, to an average of one per day in the past week.
Cases in dormitories
Among the 40 cases residing in dormitories, 31 had been identified earlier as contacts of previous cases, and had already been quarantined to prevent further transmission, the health ministry said. “They were tested during quarantine to determine their status. The remaining nine cases were detected through surveillance testing, such as our biweekly Rostered Routine Testing of workers living in dormitories.”
Besides the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, the ministry also conducted serological tests to determine if some of the cases are current or past infections. The serological test results for 14 cases have come back positive so far, which indicate likely past infection.
Some 99% of total cases have recovered
With 65 more patients discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities on Saturday, 56,764 cases – or 98.9 per cent of the total – have fully recovered from the infection.
Most of the 60 hospitalised cases are stable or improving, while none is in critical condition in the intensive care unit.
A total of 555 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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