908 new Covid-19 cases in Singapore; numbers expected to rise amid testing of final batch of foreign workers in dorms

SINGAPORE — Singapore has confirmed 908 new cases of Covid-19, including four that are imported and one that is in the community. The remaining 903 are migrant workers staying in dormitories.

In a press release on Wednesday (Aug 5), the Ministry of Health (MOH) said that the four imported cases include three dependant’s pass holders aged between one and six, as well as a short-term visit 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 imported cases had arrived from India on July 22. They had all been placed on a 14-day stay-home notice at dedicated facilities and tested positive while serving their notices.

The one case in the community is a 26-year-old Bangladeshi work permit holder who has no links to previous cases. MOH said that investigations are ongoing for the man.

“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 four 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 also gone down from an average of two a day in the week before, to an average of one a day in the past week.

FOREIGN WORKERS DORMITORIES

MOH said that there were 903 cases linked to migrant workers staying in dormitories who were tested during their isolation or quarantine period even though they are asymptomatic.

"They are among the final batch of workers being cleared and they come from dormitories with a relatively high prevalence of Covid-19," it added.

"Hence, we expect the daily case counts to be high for the coming days, before tapering thereafter as the inter-agency task force completes the dormitory clearance."

MOH also said that it remains on track to clear all dormitories of the infectious disease by Aug 7, except for a few standalone blocks in dormitories serving as quarantine facilities.

These quarantine facilities have about 9,700 workers, who will have to serve out their 14-day isolation periods and be subject to an exit test before they are able to resume work.

In monitoring existing clusters for any further transmission, MOH found that there have been no more cases linked to the cluster at Micron Semiconductor Asia company, located at 1 North Coast Drive in Woodlands, so the cluster is now closed. 

UPDATES ON THE REMAINING CASES

In all, the total number of infections in Singapore now stands at 54,254.

Of these, 47,768 people have fully recovered and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities, including the 314 on Wednesday.

There are still 126 patients in hospitals and most are in stable condition or improving. One person is in critical condition under intensive care.

Another 6,333 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.