SINGAPORE — A 45-year-old female non-teaching preschool staff and a man who was tested before he was due to start work on a plumbing project at a preschool were among the five new Covid-19 cases identified in the community, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Saturday (May 30).

Two of the five cases are Singaporean or Permanent Residents. Of these, one was the non-teaching preschool staff who was picked up as a result of proactive screening to prepare for the phased reopening of preschools on June 1. 

MOH will conduct a serological test to determine if this was a past or current infection. 

The other case is currently unlinked.

The other three community cases are work pass and work permit holders:

•  One was a contact of previous confirmed cases, and had already been placed on quarantine earlier. 

• Another was tested before he was due to start work on a plumbing project at a preschool. 

• Epidemiological investigations are ongoing for the remaining case.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has decreased, from an average of seven cases per day in the week before, to an average of four per day in the past week, the MOH noted. 

The number of unlinked cases in the community has remained stable at an average of two per day in the past two weeks. 

Earlier, the MOH confirmed 506 new cases of Covid-19 in Singapore, bringing the total number of cases here to 34,366.

Of the new cases, 501 are work permit holders residing in dormitories. Among them, 99 per cent are linked to known clusters, while the rest are pending contact tracing.

The MOH said it continues to pick up many cases amongst work permit holders residing in dormitories, including in factory-converted dormitories, because of extensive testing in these premises, as part of the process to verify and test the status of all workers.

The ministry added that it has also looked into the cases of three prison inmates and a staff nurse from Singapore Prison Service’s medical service provider who had earlier tested positive for Covid-19. 

“We have established that they were not epidemiologically linked to one another, and did not constitute a cluster,” MOH said, adding that these cases were included earlier in its daily updates on new Covid-19 cases.

In the past week, between May 23 and May 29, the MOH said it has uncovered links for one previously unlinked case.

UPDATE ON CONDITION OF CONFIRMED CASES

The MOH said that 1,096 more cases of Covid-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. 

In all, 20,727 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.

There are currently 374 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and seven are in critical condition in the intensive care unit. 

Another 13,242 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. 

So far, 23 have passed away from complications due to Covid-19 infection.