SINGAPORE — Singapore has confirmed 249 new cases of Covid-19, including 15 in the community, five that were imported and 229 linked to migrant workers living in dormitories.

The Ministry of Health said on Wednesday (July 15) that the five imported cases include one Singaporean, one work pass holder, one student’s pass holder, one long-term visit pass holder and one short-term visit pass holder.

Among the imported cases is a 28-year-old Singaporean woman who returned from India on July 3.

Three others tested positive for the coronavirus while serving their 14-day stay-home notice while the fifth was specially transported from Changi Airport to a vessel at Jurong Port upon arrival in Singapore, where he had remained until he was placed on quarantine at a government quarantine facility, MOH said.

For the 15 community cases, three are work pass holders and the other 12 are work permit holders.

Eleven of them were diagnosed as part of the ministry’s proactive surveillance and monitoring while three were already placed on quarantine earlier.

Of the 15 community cases, only five were linked to previous cases or clusters while 10 have no known links to past infections.

MOH said that investigations are ongoing to find out how the infection was spread for the 10 with no links, including a patient who was swabbed under the ministry’s enhanced community testing exercise for all individuals aged 13 and above who are diagnosed with acute respiratory infection at first presentation to a doctor.

“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.

“We will also conduct serological tests for their household contacts to determine if these cases could have been infected by them,” MOH added.

A serological test is used to check if a person had an infection in the past, or on someone who is asymptomatic or has a very low viral load.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has gone down slightly from an average of 14 a day in the week before to an average of 13 a day in the past week.

The number of unlinked cases in the community has gone up from an average of six a day in the week before to an average of eight 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

MOH said that the inter-agency task force, which provides support to foreign workers and dormitory operators during this period, has been systematically and progressively clearing dormitories to be free of the coronavirus, through aggressive testing of migrant workers staying at these places.

The dormitory at 11 Tuas Avenue 10 has been cleared and now houses only recovered individuals and those who have recently tested negative for Covid-19.

“As such, the cluster has now been closed,” MOH said.

UPDATES ON THE REMAINING CASES

In all, the total number of infections here now stands at 46,878.

Of these, 42,988 people have fully recovered and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities, including the 251 on Wednesday.

There are still 159 patients in hospitals and most are in stable condition or improving.

Another 3,704 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.