Covid-19: 2 new clusters emerge at CGH, Henderson Crescent; equipment specialist at SGH among unlinked cases

• Singapore reported 20 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, 15 of which were in the community
• Of the 15, two were linked to the Bukit Merah View market cluster
• Two new clusters were detected at Changi General Hospital and Block 105 Henderson Crescent
• There were five imported cases and no new cases in migrant worker dormitories

SINGAPORE — Two new Covid-19 clusters have emerged in Singapore: One at the Changi General Hospital and the other at Block 105 Henderson Crescent.

The public housing block is about a five-to-10-minute walk away from the Bukit Merah View Market and Food Centre, now the largest active Covid-19 cluster in the country with 87 cases as of Friday (June 25).

In its nightly update on the coronavirus situation here, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said that six of the 15 community cases reported for the day have been linked to the cluster at Block 105 Henderson Crescent. It now has 10 cases so far.

Two infections have been linked to a porter at Changi General Hospital, making it three in this cluster.

Another two cases were linked to the Bukit Merah View market cluster while two more have been linked to previously reported cases.

The remaining three community cases on Friday have no known links to past infections, MOH said.

These three were:

• A 32-year-old Singaporean man who works as an equipment specialist at Singapore General Hospital (SGH)

• A 31-year-old Malaysian man who is employed by cleaning services provider Fourways as a cleaner at National University of Singapore’s Prince George’s Park Residence

• An 84-year-old Singaporean woman who is a retiree. She developed a cough on June 16 but did not see a doctor. She was taken to SGH on June 24 for an unrelated medical condition where she was tested for the coronavirus

Rounding up the total of 20 new cases reported on Friday were five imported ones.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has dropped from 104 in the week before to 93 in the past week.

The number of cases with no known links in the community has, however, gone up from 14 in the week before to 18 in the past week.

NEW CLUSTER AT BLOCK 105 HENDERSON CRESCENT

MOH said that the first case detected at the block was a 67-year-old Singaporean man who is a retiree. He was confirmed to have Covid-19 on June 17.

The six new cases linked to the cluster were all detected through the ministry’s surveillance testing of the block. They were:

• A 70-year-old Singaporean woman who is a retiree

• A 40-year-old Singaporean woman who works as a finance executive at ST Engineering

• A 45-year-old Filipino man who works as a maintenance specialist at industrial gases company Air Liquide

• A 32-year-old male permanent resident who works as a part-time delivery rider with Grab and Foodpanda

• A 32-year-old female permanent resident who works as an operation manager at grocer Green Mart SG

• A 45-year-old Singaporean man who works as a manager at construction engineering firm Meinhardt Group

NEW CASES IN CHANGI GENERAL HOSPITAL CLUSTER

Two Singaporean men — aged 67 and 72 — who work as porters at the hospital were added to this cluster. The first case detected there was a porter, a 35-year-old Singaporean man who was confirmed to have Covid-19 on June 23.

NEW CASES IN BUKIT MERAH VIEW MARKET CLUSTER

• A two-year-old male permanent resident who is enrolled at Hope Child Care Centre located at 3501 Jalan Bukit Merah

• An 11-year-old Singaporean boy who is a student at Alexandra Primary School

CASES LINKED TO PAST INFECTIONS

• A 30-year-old Indonesian woman who is a foreign domestic worker

• A 31-year-old male China national who works as a driver with halal meat company MW Impex

IMPORTED CASES

The five new cases were all placed on stay-home notice or isolated upon their arrival here, MOH said.

They were:

• Two Singaporeans and two permanent residents who returned from India, Indonesia and the United Kingdom

• One work permit holder who came from the Philippines

UPDATE ON REMAINING CASES

The total number of Covid-19 cases in Singapore is now 62,513.

Of these, 62,161 people have fully recovered and been discharged, including 21 on Friday.

There are still 139 patients in hospitals. Of these, most are stable or improving, and four are in critical condition under intensive care.

Another 178 patients are isolated at community facilities. They have mild symptoms or are clinically well but still tested positive for Covid-19.

Thirty-five people have died from complications due to the disease.