SINGAPORE — Singapore has confirmed 344 new cases of Covid-19, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) in a press release on Saturday (June 6).

This brings the total number of cases here to 37,527.

Seven cases are in the community with three Singaporeans/permanent residents and four work permit holders. 

The remaining cases are work permit holders residing in foreign worker dormitories. 

Of the three Singapore/permanent residents cases, one case is a family member of a previously confirmed case and had already been quarantined earlier while another case is a cleaner at the preschool section of an international school and was tested as part proactive screening of preschool staff. 

The remaining case is a 27-year-old Singaporean male who has no recent travel history and tested positive for Covid-19 on June 5. He is currently warded at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.

He is employed as a physiotherapist at Tampines Polyclinic but had not gone to work since onset of symptoms, said MOH. 

Epidemiological investigations are ongoing for the remaining case, it added. 

The four work permit holders, said MOH, were picked up as a result of proactive screening with three tested as part of the screening of workers in essential services.

One work permit holder was tested as part of the screening of migrant workers deployed at public healthcare institutions. 

While he had been doing building maintenance works at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital, he had not  interacted with hospital staff or patients, said MOH. 

Overall, MOH said that the number of new cases in the community has increased from an average of five a day in the week before, to an average of seven a day in the past week.

It added that the number of unlinked cases in the community has remained stable at an average of two cases a day in the past two weeks.

In the past week, it had uncovered links for seven previously unlinked cases. 

CLUSTER CLOSED AND ANOTHER IDENTIFIED

MOH said that it has been monitoring existing clusters for any further transmission.

As there have been no more cases linked to a construction site at 15 Serangoon North Avenue 1 for the past two incubation periods, the cluster has now been closed, it said.

The health ministry, however, identified two new clusters - a dormitory at Beyond Tuas South Boulevard and a dormitory at 10 Kwong Min Road..

UPDATED LIST OF PLACES VISITED BY CONFIRMED CASES

NTUC Fairprice at Hougang Mall was added to the list of locations recently visited by confirmed Covid-19 cases.

The supermarket was visited by the confirmed case on May 30 between 11am and noon. 

The MOH said it began providing this list from May 25 because there is likely to be a rise in new community Covid-19 cases after the end of circuit breaker on June 1 and so it is critical to detect and contain these cases quickly, and prevent large clusters from forming.

UPDATE ON THE REST OF THE CASES

In all, MOH said that 24,559  people have fully recovered from the Covid-19 infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities, including the 350 on Saturday.

There are currently 308 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and four patients are in critical condition under intensive care.

MOH said that 12,635 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 infection.

A 41-year-old man, who recovered from infection on May 17, died on June 4 from complications of the infection, said MOH on Saturday.