Two workers at Keppel Shipyard, nurse at Ng Teng Fong hospital among new Covid-19 cases in S’pore

SINGAPORE — Two workers at the Keppel Shipyard and a nurse at the Ng Teng Fong General Hospital (NTFGH) were among the 191 new Covid-19 cases in Singapore announced on Wednesday (June 24).

In its evening update, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said that the three were among seven cases in the community. The remaining 184 infections were foreign workers living in dormitories.

Separately, MOH said that the Keppel Shipyard at 51 Pioneer Sector 1 and a dormitory at Tech Park Crescent were identified as two new clusters of infections.

MOH said that of the seven community cases, two are Singaporeans, two are work pass holders and the remaining three are work permit holders. 

Four of those community cases had been picked up as a result of the MOH’s proactive surveillance and screening, while the remaining three were tested for Covid-19 when they sought medical treatment.

MOH said that among the two Singaporean cases, one was tested as he was working at the foreign worker dormitories while investigations are ongoing for the other.

MOH said that the other Singaporean case involved a 31 year-old man who has no recent travel history to affected countries or regions.

He was confirmed to have Covid-19 infection on June 23, and is currently warded at NTFGH, where he works as a nurse.

And among the five work pass and work permit holders, two were asymptomatic but were screened as they work in essential services while another was swabbed as he works at a dormitory.

“Epidemiological investigations are ongoing for the remaining two cases who have been linked to a cluster,” MOH said.

The health ministry said that besides the polymerase chain reaction test, it had also conducted serological tests to determine if some of these community cases are current or past infections.

“The serological test result for one case has come back positive, which indicates likely past infection. The test results for the remaining cases are pending,” MOH said.

Overall, 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.

The number of unlinked cases in the community has also remained stable at 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.

UPDATES ON THE REMAINING CASES

In all, 36,299 people have fully recovered from the Covid-19 infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities, including the 304 on Wednesday.

There are currently 189 patients who are still in hospital.

Of these, most are stable or improving, and one is in critical condition under intensive care.

MOH said that 6,109 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-six people have died from complications due to Covid-19 infection.