463 new Covid-19 cases, including new high of 18 community cases

SINGAPORE — There are 18 new Covid-19 cases in the community, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in its daily update of case numbers on Friday (June 12). This is the highest number since June 4, when 15 cases were reported.

They were among the 463 new cases announced on the day, while the remaining 445 were linked to foreign workers living in dormitories.

Of the 18 community cases, eight are Singaporeans or permanent residents and 10 are work pass or work permit holders.

MOH said that 11 of the 18 were picked up as a result of its proactive surveillance and screening, and six had already been placed on quarantine.

Among the eight Singaporeans or permanent residents, six were tested as part of the MOH’s proactive surveillance of people who work at dormitories.

Four of the six had no symptoms, while one had been identified as a close contact of an earlier confirmed cases and had already been placed on quarantine. Investigations are ongoing for the sixth case.

Among the 10 work pass and work permit holders, three cases were detected due to the MOH’s screening of people working at the dormitories. Two others were swabbed as part of the ministry’s efforts to screen workers in essential services.

“Five other cases were close contacts of previously confirmed cases, and had already been quarantined at government quarantine facilities. They are asymptomatic, and had been swabbed during quarantine to verify their status,” MOH added.

Besides the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, MOH said that it had also conducted serological tests to determine if some of the cases in the community are current or past infections.

“The serological test results of four cases have come back positive, which indicate likely past infections. Results are pending for the rest,” it said.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has increased from an average of six cases a day in the week before to an average of nine cases a day in the past week.

The number of cases in the community with no known sources of infection has also increased from an average of one case a day in the week before to an average of four cases a day in the past week.

“We will continue to closely monitor these numbers, as well as the cases detected through our surveillance programme,” MOH said.

ONE CLUSTER CLOSED, MORE IDENTIFIED

In monitoring existing clusters for any further transmission, MOH found that the cluster at the dormitory located at 50A Tuas Link 4 has had no new cases linked to it in the past 28 days. It is thus declassifying the dorm as a cluster.

Three new clusters of infections were identified in the meantime. They are located at two dormitories at 55 Genting Lane and 21 Tuas View Loop, as well as the Stirling Residences construction site in Queenstown.

UPDATES ON REST OF THE CASES

There are now 39,850 confirmed cases here as of Friday.

In all, 28,040 people have fully recovered and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities, including the 754 on Friday.

There are still 239 patients in hospitals. Of these, most are in stable condition or improving, and two are in critical condition under intensive care.

MOH said that 11,546 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-five people have died from complications due to Covid-19.