119 new Covid-19 cases in Singapore, including 3 community cases

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) on Tuesday (June 23) announced 119 new Covid-19 cases in Singapore, pushing the total to 42,432.

There were three cases in the community, all of whom were asymptomatic. They are a Singapore permanent resident, a work-pass holder and a work-permit holder.

The remaining 116 cases were linked to migrant workers in dormitories.

Of the three community cases, MOH said that they had been picked up as a result of its proactive surveillance and screening.

The case involving the Singapore permanent resident was detected by  MOH’s surveillance of people working in the dormitories, even though he was asymptomatic. The work-pass and work-permit holders were tested as part of the ministry’s efforts to screen workers whose jobs provide essential services.

MOH said that besides the Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction test, it also performed serological tests to determine if these community cases are current or past infections.

The serological test result for the permanent resident came back positive, which indicates likely past infection, the ministry said. The test results for the other two cases are pending.

On the whole, MOH said that the number of new cases in the community has decreased from an average of seven a day in the week before to four a day in the past week.

It added that the number of “unlinked” cases in the community — which have no known connection to past cases — has remained stable. There was an average of two cases a day in the past two weeks.

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

Separately, MOH said a 48-year-old Indian national died on Tuesday.

He had been sent to the emergency department at the Singapore General Hospital after fainting on Tuesday morning at a temporary housing site for migrant workers.

The man was confirmed to have Covid-19 on May 15 and had recovered from the infection.

“The cause of death was ischaemic heart disease,” MOH said.

UPDATE ON THE REST OF THE CASES

In all, MOH said that 35,995 people have recovered from the disease and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities, including the 405 on Tuesday.

There are 192 patients who are still in hospital. Most are stable or improving, and one is in critical condition under intensive care.

Separately, 6,219 patients are being isolated and cared for at community facilities. They have mild symptoms or are clinically well, but still test positive for the coronavirus.

Twenty-six people have died from complications due to Covid-19 in Singapore.