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COVID-19: Singapore confirms 513 new cases, additional dorm cluster

SINGAPORE - JULY 10:  Voters cross a street to go to a polling station during the general election on July 10, 2020 in Singapore. Singaporeans go to the polls today as the ruling party, People's Action Party seeks a fresh mandate amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. As of July 9, the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country stands at 45,422.  (Photo by Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images)
Pedestrians crossing a road in Singapore. (PHOTO: Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images)

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed 513 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore as of Saturday (25 July), bringing the total to 49,888.

It also announced an additional cluster of four cases linked to a dormitory at 12 Defu Lane 7 and added new places to a list of public venues visited by infectious community cases: Ramada Singapore at Zhongshan Park and B&S Mini Mart.

Of the new cases, two are classified as cases in the community, while six – including two permanent residents – are imported cases. The remaining 505 are foreign workers living in dorms.

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

Authorities here expect to clear all dorms by 7 August, with the exception of 17 standalone blocks in eight purpose-built dorms, which serve as quarantine facilities as well as 28,000 workers still serving out their isolation period.

“This last batch of workers come from dorms with a relatively high prevalence of COVID-19, and will be subject to a final test before they complete their isolation periods. We therefore expect the daily case counts to be high for the coming two weeks, before tapering down thereafter,” said the ministry.

Both community cases are asymptomatic, and were detected through proactive testing, it added. One of them – case 49715 – had been identified as a contact of a previously confirmed case, and had been placed on quarantine earlier. He was tested during quarantine to determine his status.

The unlinked community case – no. 49478 – was detected from the proactive screening of workers in essential services who are living outside the dorms.

“Epidemiological investigations of the unlinked case are in progress. In the meantime, all the identified close contacts have been isolated and placed on quarantine, and will be tested at the start and end of their quarantine period so that we can detect asymptomatic cases,” said the MOH.

Serological tests will also be conducted for his household contacts to determine if he could have been infected by them, it added.

Amongst the six imported cases, two – cases 49477 and 49479 – are PRs who returned here from India on 12 July, and from the UK on 10 July. The remaining cases are dependant’s pass holders who arrived from India between 11 July and 13 July. All had been placed on 14-day stay-home notice upon their arrival here, and had been tested while serving their notice.

The MOH noted that the number of new cases in the community has decreased, from an average of nine cases per day in the week before, to an average of seven per day in the past week.

Similarly, the number of unlinked cases in the community has also decreased, from an average of five cases per day in the week before, to an average of four per day in the past week.

Separately, the MOH announced that the following dorms have been cleared and are no longer active clusters. They now house only recovered individuals and those who have recently tested negative for COVID-19:

  • 20 Kranji Road;

  • Potong Pasir Avenue 1;

  • 63 Senoko Drive;

  • 5 Sungei Kadut Avenue;

  • 59 Sungei Kadut Loop;

  • 10 Tagore Drive;

  • 212 Tagore Lane;

  • 16 Tech Park Crescent;

  • 23 Tech Park Crescent;

  • 50 Tech Park Crescent;

  • 29 Tuas View Walk

As of 20 July, about 247,000 foreign workers living in dorms have either recovered, or have been tested to be free from the virus. Of Singapore’s total COVID-19 tally, over 47,059 – 94.3 per cent – are such workers.

Some 91% recovered, 0 in ICU

With 180 more patients discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities on Saturday, 45,352 cases – 90.9 per cent of the total tally – have fully recovered from the infection.

Most of the 148 hospitalised cases are stable or improving, while none are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

A total of 4,361 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.

“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.

As of 20 July, the ministry has conducted 1,170,049 swab tests, of which 571,496 were done on unique individuals. This translates to around 205,300 swabs conducted per 1 million total population, and about 100,300 unique individuals swabbed per 1 million total population.

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