COVID-19: Singapore confirms 799 new cases and 2 more deaths, crosses 14,000 mark
SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed on Monday (27 April) 799 new COVID-19 cases and two additional fatalities from the virus in Singapore.
This brings the death toll here to 14, and the total number of cases to 14,423 – the highest recorded in Southeast Asia. The 13th and 14th fatalities are both Singaporean men aged 82 and 81, respectively, who succumbed to COVID-19 complications on Sunday.
The ministry also confirmed seven more clusters.
Of the new cases, 764, about 96 per cent, of the new cases are foreign workers living in dormitories.
“Most of these cases have a mild illness and are being monitored in the community isolation facilities or general ward of our hospitals. None of them is in the intensive care unit,” it added.
Of the remaining cases, 17 are foreign workers living outside dorms, while 18 are cases in the community, including 14 Singaporeans and permanent residents.
Overall, 49 per cent of the new cases have no established links.
The MOH said that the number of new cases in the community has decreased, from an average of 29 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 20 per day in the past week.
The number of unlinked cases in the community has also decreased, from an average of 19 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 13 per day in the past week, it added.
“We will continue to closely monitor these numbers, as well as the cases detected through our surveillance programme,” said the MOH.
Separately, the number of new cases amongst foreign workers residing outside dorms has continued to increase, from an average of 23 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 24 per day in the past week.
The seven additional clusters are Acacia Home at 30 Admiralty Street, Hai Leck Engineering at 12 Tuas Drive 1, Lingjack Dormitory at 1 Woodlands Terrace, 9 Gul Street 1, 3 Senoko Link, 44 Toh Guan Road East, and 2 Woodlands Industrial Park E1.
More than 50 clusters linked to foreign worker dormitories have been identified thus far, including Singapore’s largest cluster of 2,286 linked to S11 Dormitory@Punggol, followed by Sungei Tengah Lodge linked to 887 cases and Tuas View Dormitory linked to 873 cases.
The three are among the 25 dorms that have been gazetted as isolation areas and account for some 33 per cent of the total 12,183 infected cases living in dorms here.
Some 300,000 foreign workers live in dorms here in Singapore.
(For details on the breakdown of clusters, read here.)
UPDATE: COVID-19: Singapore confirms 799 new cases and 2 more deaths, crosses 14,000 mark https://t.co/VS713PcRgQ pic.twitter.com/bhnSvDBqQA
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35 more patients discharged
The ministry said on Monday that 35 more patients have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 1,095 have fully recovered from the infection.
Most of the 1,451 hospitalised cases are stable or improving, while 20 are in the intensive care unit, down from 22 on Sunday.
A total of 11,863, who exhibit mild symptoms or are clinically well but still test positive for the virus, are isolated and cared for at community facilities.
Of the latest two fatalities, the 82-year-old Singaporean man, identified as case 1595, tested positive for the virus on 8 April. He was listed as an unlinked case in the MOH daily report on 8 April. The 81-year-old Singaporean man, identified as case 9682, tested positive for the virus on 20 April.
“The National Centre for Infectious Diseases has reached out to their families and is extending assistance to them,” said the MOH.
Three patients who tested positive for the virus have died from causes unrelated to COVID-19. The latest such fatality was a 40-year-old Malaysian man who died of a heart attack on 18 April. He had tested positive for the virus the day before.
Separately, a 46-year-old Indian migrant worker, identified by the ministry as case 8190, died after being found at a staircase landing in Khoo Teck Puat Hospital on Thursday. He had tested positive for COVID-19 prior to his death.
“The cause of death for case 8190 was multiple injuries consistent with those resulting from a fall from height, and was not due to complications from COVID-19 infection,” the ministry said last Friday.
As of 20 April, the ministry has conducted 121,774 swab tests, of which 82,644 were done on unique individuals.
Over 3m cases globally
To date, there are over three million COVID-19 cases globally – it took 83 days to reach the first million cases worldwide and just 14 days for the second million.
Some 209,000 have died from the virus, with the US holding the record for the highest global death toll at close to 51,000.
At close to one million cases, the country also holds the record of having the largest number of patients globally, followed by Spain at over 229,000 cases, Italy at over 199,000, and France with over 162,000 cases.
China, where the virus originated, has reported almost 83,000 cases and more than 4,600 deaths, after it abruptly readjusted its death toll higher by 50 per cent on 17 April.
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