Advertisement

COVID-19: Singapore confirms 68 new cases, none from the community

Migrant workers work at a construction site in Singapore on August 20, 2020. - About 86 per cent of foreign workers in the construction, marine and process sectors have been allowed to resume work, up from the 81 per cent announced last week, as the Ministry of Manpower announced on August 19 that all dormitories housing migrant workers were declared cleared of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus. (Photo by Roslan RAHMAN / AFP) (Photo by ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Migrant workers work at a construction site in Singapore on 20 August, 2020. (PHOTO: AFP via Getty Images)

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed another 68 COVID-19 cases in Singapore as of Thursday (20 August), taking the country’s total to 56,099.

There are no community cases, while two – one Singaporean and one permanent resident – are imported ones. The remaining 66 cases are work permit holders living in dormitories currently under quarantine.

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

Both imported cases returned to Singapore from India on 6 and 8 August, said the MOH. They had been placed on a 14-day stay-home notice upon their arrival here and had been tested while serving their notice, it added.

The ministry said that the number of new cases in the community has decreased 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 remained stable at an average of fewer than one per day in the past two weeks.

The ministry also announced the closure of clusters at Tech Park Crescent dorm at 43 Tech Park Crescent and the dorm at 53 Sungei Kadut Loop. They now house only recovered individuals and those who have recently tested negative for COVID-19.

Authorities here have completed the testing of all workers in the dorms, with around 14,500 of them currently serving out their quarantine period to date.

About 100 COVID-19 cases have been detected in foreign worker dorms that were given the all-clear, resulting in some 7,000 workers being quarantined, said the authorities on the same day.

Of Singapore’s COVID-19 cases, 53,062 – or 94.6 per cent – are foreign workers living in dorms.

Over 53,100 discharged; none in ICU

A total of 309 more patients were discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities on Thursday. In all, 53,119 – some 95 per cent of the tally – have fully recovered from the infection and been discharged.

Most of the 75 hospitalised cases are stable or improving, and none are in the intensive care unit.

A total of 2,878 are isolated and cared for at community facilities. These patients have mild symptoms, or are clinically well but still test positive for COVID-19.

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.

Stay in the know on-the-go: Join Yahoo Singapore's Telegram channel at http://t.me/YahooSingapore

More Singapore stories:

Discrimination of any form has no place in Singapore, says Halimah Yacob over Tangs incident

LifeSG app launched to provide access to over 40 government services

New Sungei Buloh Nature Park Network to encompass over 400ha of wetland habitats

All standalone blocks used as quarantine facilities in dorms cleared of COVID-19: MOM