Advertisement

2 new Bukit Merah View clusters added as market grows to 78 cases

Healthcare workers dressed in personal protective equipment attend to a resident during registration for a mandatory swab test at a temporarily COVID-19 testing centre on June 20, 2021 in Singapore. The authorities have set up special testing operations to contain the potential community transmission after several clusters outbreak at a market and food centre. According to the local media, the Ministry of Health has detected 428 local COVID-19 cases of the B16172 (Delta) variant as of May 31, which is more transmissible, virulent or resistant to public health measures. (Photo by Suhaimi Abdullah/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Healthcare workers dressed in personal protective equipment attend to a resident during registration for a mandatory swab test at a temporarily COVID-19 testing centre on 20 June, 2021 in Singapore. (PHOTO: NurPhoto via Getty Images)

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) on Monday (21 June) confirmed 16 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore, taking the country's total case count to 62,430, as well as its 35th related fatality.

Thirteen are local cases in the community. Of them, five – out of eight linked cases – had been quarantined earlier. Monday marks the 57th consecutive day with local cases reported.

The three remaining cases are imported and are returning Singaporeans from Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, and the UK.

"Amongst the new cases today, three are asymptomatic, and were detected from our proactive screening and surveillance, while 13 were symptomatic," said the MOH.

The ministry also identified two new clusters at 119 and 121 Bukit Merah View as well as announced the closure of the "Case 63466" cluster. This brings the current number of active COVID-19 clusters in Singapore to 38.

The MOH said it is investigating cases of COVID-19 infection among visitors to the FairPrice outlet at 166 Bukit Merah Central and will conduct special testing operations for all of its staff members working there.

Free COVID-19 testing will also be extended to members of the public who had visited FairPrice at 166 Bukit Merah Central between 3 and 21 June.

Mount E nurse, Foodpanda delivery rider among unlinked cases

The three unlinked cases in the community are:

  • a 33-year-old female permanent resident who works as a nurse at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital but is not involved in direct patient care (fully vaccinated)

  • a 38-year-old Filipino woman who is a foreign domestic worker

  • a 29-year-old Singaporean man who works as a delivery rider with Foodpanda

Separately, a 47-year-old Indonesian woman, a foreign domestic worker, was a confirmed case who was identified as a close contact of the 38-year-old woman but is not part of any active COVID-19 cluster.

The ministry noted that the number of new cases in the community has increased from 49 in the week before to 103 in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also increased from 15 in the week before to 20 in the past week.

Two new clusters in Bukit Merah View area

The 119 Bukit Merah View cluster is linked to five cases, including two new infections announced on Monday who were detected via surveillance. They are each other's family members and household contacts:

  • a 63-year-old Singaporean man who is employed by CSP Maintenance as a cleaner at Enabling Village and a Bukit Merah View resident

  • a 62-year-old Singaporean woman who is a homemaker and a Bukit Merah View resident

The 121 Bukit Merah View cluster is linked to three previously announced cases, all of whom are in their eighties. It was first linked to the oldest of the trio, an 86-year-old Singaporean woman who is a retiree and was confirmed to have COVID-19 on 18 June.

Bukit Merah View market cluster: 5 new cases, 78 in total

The cluster was first linked to a 74-year-old Singaporean man who works at a sundry store at the market. The fully-vaccinated man was confirmed to have COVID-19 on 9 June.

Four of five new cases added to the cluster on Monday had been quarantined earlier:

  • a 37-year-old male PR who works as a chef at Holiday Inn Atrium and a part-time delivery driver for Lalamove Singapore (fully vaccinated)

  • a 71-year-old Singaporean man who is a retiree (received first dose of vaccine)

  • a 57-year-old Singaporean woman who is currently unemployed (received first dose of vaccine)

  • a 23-year-old Malaysian woman who works as a stall assistant at Tiong Bahru Yong Tao Hu at 56 Eng Hoon Street

The remaining case is a 75-year-old Singaporean woman who is a retiree. The fully vaccinated woman was detected during community surveillance testing for residents of the Bukit Merah View area.

'Case 64264' cluster: 2 new cases, 5 in total

The cluster was named after the case number of a 32-year-old Indonesian woman who is a foreign domestic worker and was confirmed to have COVID-19 on 16 June. She was tested for COVID-19 the day before as part of community surveillance testing for visitors to 115 and 116 Bukit Merah View.

One of two new additions to the cluster had been quarantined earlier. She is a 28-year-old Malaysian woman who works as a sales representative at Top Employment at Katong Shopping Centre. The other case is a 26-year-old Malaysian woman who works as a marketing executive at Central Recruitment.

99% of total cases have recovered

With 28 more patients discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities on Monday, 62,070 cases – or 99.4 per cent of the total – have fully recovered from the infection.

Most of the 134 hospitalised cases are stable or improving. None of them are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

A total of 191 patients – with mild symptoms or are clinically well but still test positive – are isolated and cared for at community facilities.

Apart from the 35 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.

Among the 129 confirmed cases reported from 15 to 21 June, 44 cases have tested positive for their serology tests, 77 have tested negative, and eight serology test results are pending.

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

More Singapore stories:

Dine-in at Singapore F&B places capped at 2 per group from 21 June

Mandatory testing for individuals who visit COVID hotspots on same day as infected cases

Fast COVID tests to be mandatory for staff servicing unmasked clients from mid-July

SafeEntry check-out boxes to be rolled out in coming weeks: MTF