15 new Covid-19 cases, including 1 in the community and 5 imported ones

SINGAPORE — Singapore has confirmed 15 new cases of Covid-19, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Saturday (Sept 19).

There is one new community case involving a Singaporean man, 22. He is an unlinked case and had developed symptoms of Covid-19 on Thursday before he was diagnosed a day later, said MOH in a press statement.  

He was detected under MOH's enhanced community testing to test all individuals aged 13 and above who are diagnosed with acute respiratory infection at first presentation to a doctor.

In addition, there are five imported cases who all had been placed on a stay-home notice upon arrival in Singapore.

They include one Work Permit holder, one Dependant’s Pass holder, one Student’s Pass holder and two Long-Term Visit Pass holders.

Four of them had arrived from India, while the fifth had arrived from Iran — all between Sept 6 and Sept 15. Their ages range from one to 35.

The remaining nine cases announced on Saturday involve migrant workers residing in dormitories.

Six of them had been identified earlier as contacts of previous cases, and had already been quarantined to prevent further transmission. They were tested during quarantine to determine their status, said MOH.

The remaining three cases were detected through surveillance testing, such as its bi-weekly rostered routine testing of workers living in dormitories.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has decreased, from an average of two cases per day in the week before, to an average of one per day in the past week.

“The number of unlinked cases in the community has remained stable at an average of one case per day in the past two weeks,” said MOH.

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

On Friday, MOH had reported 11 new cases, the lowest number of daily cases since March 12, when nine new cases were detected. 

On Thursday, 18 cases were reported, which was the lowest in about six months.

UPDATE ON REMAINING CASES

The total number of Covid-19 cases in Singapore now stands at 57,558.

Of these, 57,142 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities, including 71 on Saturday.

There are currently 27 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and none is in the intensive care unit.

Another 362 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.

To date, 27 have passed away from complications due to Covid-19 infection.