51 new COVID-19 cases in S'pore; additional Tuas View dorm cluster confirmed

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed 51 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore on Monday (24 August), taking the country’s total to 56,404.

The ministry also announced an additional cluster of six cases linked to Tuas View Dormitory at 70 Tuas South Avenue 1.

Of the new cases, one is a Singaporean classified as a case in the community and had been placed on quarantine earlier, while seven imported cases have been placed on stay-home notice upon their arrival here.

The remaining 43 are foreign workers living in dormitories, of which 26 had been placed on quarantine earlier.

Overall, 12 per cent of them have no established links.

The lone Singaporean community case – 56466 – had been identified as a contact of a previously confirmed case and placed on quarantine earlier. She was tested during quarantine to determine her status, the MOH said.

Amongst the seven imported cases, case 56467 is a Singapore permanent resident who returned to Singapore from India on 12 August.

Four cases – 56448, 56453, 56454, and 56456 – are dependant’s pass and long-term pass holders who arrived from India and the Netherlands on 9 and 10 August.

The remaining two – 56465 and 56468 – are work permit holders currently employed here who arrived from India and Indonesia on 12 August.

All seven imported cases had been placed on the 14-day stay-home notice upon their arrival here and were tested while serving their notice at dedicated facilities, said the MOH.

Three new locations were added to the MOH list of public places visited by COVID-19 cases in the community recently: JEM mall at Jurong Gateway Road, Jurong West 505 Market & Food Centre, and Yuhua Market & Hawker Centre.

The ministry noted that the number of new cases in the community has remained stable at an average of two cases per day in the past two weeks. Similarly, the number of unlinked cases in the community has also remained stable at an average of one case per day in the past two weeks.

17 cases living in dorms detected via surveillance testing

Of the 43 foreign workers living in the dorms, 26 had been identified earlier as contacts of previous cases and tested during their quarantine to determine their status, said the MOH.

The remaining 17 cases were detected through surveillance testing, such as the bi-weekly rostered routine testing of workers living in dorms and testing of those with acute respiratory infection symptoms.

Besides the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, or swabbing, the MOH also conducted serological tests to determine if some of these cases are current or past infections.

“The serological test results for 11 cases have come back positive so far, which indicate likely past infections,” it added.

Around 4,800 workers have been issued the stay-home notice as a precautionary measure to determine their health status, the authorities said on Sunday, a day after a new COVID-19 cluster was reported at Sungei Tengah Lodge.

As of Sunday, a total of 58 cases – all asymptomatic – have been linked to the dorm cluster.

The Sungei Tengah Lodge is Singapore's largest purpose-built dormitory for foreign workers, with about 16,000 of them residing there. It was declared to be fully cleared of the coronavirus last month.

Overall, foreign workers residing at dorms make up 94.5 per cent – or 53,319 cases – of Singapore’s total COVID-19 tally.

KTV at HomeTeamNS Khatib: 322 test negative

Separately, the MOH said on Monday that it had completed the screening and testing of all 322 visitors who were at the Jewel Music Box KTV at HomeTeamNS Khatib on 1 and 2 August, with all testing negative.

All visitors to the KTV were screened and tested as a precautionary measure following the detection of three cases – 55169, 55469, and 55712 – who had visited the place during the affected dates, even though the risk of infection for them was assessed to be low, it reiterated.

The visitors had been invited to preview the new KTV premise on the two dates with most staying “for a short period of time”, said the MOH in a previous press release. The KTV was not operational during the visits and there were no singing activities held.

Over 54,500 cases discharged; no patient in ICU

With 423 more patients discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities on Monday, 54,587 cases – some 97 per cent of the tally – have fully recovered from the infection.

Most of the 84 hospitalised cases are stable or improving, while none is in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

A total of 1,706 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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