301 new Covid-19 cases in Singapore; MOH says 'on track' to clear all foreign worker dormitories by Aug 7

SINGAPORE — Singapore has confirmed 301 new cases of Covid-19, including four that are imported and another four that are in the community. The remaining 293 are migrant workers staying in dormitories.

In a press release on Thursday (Aug 6), the Ministry of Health (MOH) said that the four imported cases include one Singaporean, two work pass holders and a dependant’s pass holder.  

A dependant's pass allows the spouses and children of employment or S-pass holders to live with them in Singapore.

All four cases had arrived in Singapore on July 25: The Singaporean came from Kazakhstan while the other three cases came from India.

They had all been placed on a 14-day stay-home notice at dedicated facilities and tested positive while serving their notices.

For the four cases in the community, two are Singaporeans, one a permanent resident and the other a work permit holder.

Only one of the community cases is linked to previous cases or clusters while the remaining three have no links.

MOH said that investigations are ongoing for the cases with no known sources of infection, including one who had sought medical treatment for “prolonged acute respiratory infection symptoms”.

“In the meantime, all the identified close contacts of the cases 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,” it said.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has gone down from an average of three a day in the week before, to an average of two a day in the past week.

The number of cases in the community with no known sources of infection has remained stable at an average of one case a day in the past 14 days.

‘VOLATILE’ DAILY COUNT

MOH reiterated that it continues to aggressively test the final batch of dormitory residents and remain on track to clear all the dormitories by Aug 7, except for a few standalone blocks in the dormitories that serve as quarantine facilities.

"Depending on the prevalence of Covid-19 at the remaining dormitories whose residents are being tested, the daily case counts may vary," said MOH.

"We expect the number to remain volatile in the coming days, before tapering thereafter as the inter-agency task force completes the dormitory clearance."

MORE DORMITORIES CLUSTERS CLOSED

MOH said that the inter-agency task force handling the infection controls at foreign worker dormitories has been “systematically and progressively clearing dormitories through aggressive testing of migrant workers residing in dormitories”.

As a result, 14 more dormitories have been cleared of the disease and now houses only recovered individuals and those who have recently tested negative for coronavirus. They are no longer classified as a cluster.

The dormitories are:

• Lingjack Dormitory (1 Woodlands Terrace)

• Beyond Tuas South Boulevard

• 5 Kaki Bukit Industrial Terrace

• 52 Kaki Bukit Industrial Terrace

• 13 Kaki Bukit Road 4

• 10 Kranji Link

• 119 Neythal Road

• 46 Tech Park Crescent

• 17 Tuas View Close

• 119 Tuas View Walk 1

• 107 West Coast Vale

• 5 Woodlands Industrial Park E1

• 182 Woodlands Industrial Park E5

• 208 Woodlands Industrial Park E5

UPDATES ON THE REMAINING CASES

In all, the total number of infections in Singapore now stands at 54,555.

Of these, 48,031 people have fully recovered and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities, including the 263 on Thursday.

There are still 112 patients in hospitals and most are in stable condition or improving. No one is in critical condition under intensive care.

Another 6,385 patients are isolated and cared for at community facilities. These are those who have mild symptoms or are clinically well but still test positive for Covid-19.

Twenty-seven people have died from complications due to Covid-19.