884 new Covid-19 cases in Singapore, seven new clusters identified

SINGAPORE — Singapore has confirmed 884 new cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday (May 12), the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in a statement.

This brings the total number of cases to 24,671.

MOH also identified seven new clusters of infections. They are industrial sites located at:

• 45 Kian Teck Drive

• 3 Loyang Way 6

• 36 Senoko Road

• 7 Senoko South Road

• 3 Sungei Kadut Avenue

• 46 Tech Park Crescent

• 5 Woodlands Industrial Park E1

Of the 884 new infections, four were cases in the wider community: Three were Singaporeans or permanent residents while one is a work pass holder.

The number of new cases in the community has dropped, MOH said, from an average of eight cases a day in the week before, to an average of seven a day in the past week.

It added that the number of cases with unknown sources of infection in the community has also dropped, from an average of four cases a day in the week before, to an average of three a day in the past week.

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

The majority of the new cases — 877 — were linked to foreign workers residing in dormitories while three were linked to those not staying at dormitories.

MOH said that the number of new cases found from the testing of workers with acute respiratory infection symptoms as well as their contacts remains stable.

“(However), the number of daily cases continues to rise as we are also testing the workers who are well and asymptomatic, as part of our process to verify and test the status of every worker,” it said.

“We had started this intensive testing at the purpose-built dormitories, and are now doing so for the factory-converted dormitories.”

PATIENTS FROM THE PUBLIC HEALTHCARE SECTOR

Two patients — Cases 24016 and 24255 — from the public healthcare sector were among those who tested positive.

Case 24016 is a 63-year-old Singaporean woman who has no recent travel history to affected countries or regions. She was confirmed to have Covid-19 on May 11, and is warded at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.

MOH said that she is employed as a nurse clinician at Singapore General Hospital but had not gone to work since the onset of symptoms.

Case 24255 is a patient service associate at the Changi General Hospital and is now warded there.

The 55-year-old Singaporean woman, who has no recent travel history to affected countries or regions, was also confirmed to have Covid-19 on May 11.

UPDATES ON THE REST OF THE CASES

In all, MOH said that 3,851 patients have fully recovered from Covid-19 and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities, including the 626 discharged on Tuesday.

There are still 1,132 confirmed cases who are hospitalised. Of these, most are stable or improving, and 20 are in critical condition under intensive care.

As of Tuesday, 19,667 patients are isolated and cared for at community facilities. These are patients who have mild symptoms, or are clinically well but still test positive for Covid-19.

Twenty-one people have died from complications due to Covid-19.

COVID-19 NOT DIRECT CAUSE OF DEATH

Separately, MOH identified two people whose deaths were not directly caused by the coronavirus.

Case 23908

• A 50-year-old Thai who died on May 12.

• He was taken to the emergency department at Ng Teng Fong General Hospital after suffering respiratory arrest on May 10.

• He was confirmed to have Covid-19 on May 11. The cause of death is cerebral haemorrhage, or bleeding in the brain.

Case 24013

• A 31-year-old male Indian national who died on May 10.

• He collapsed after complaining of chest pain while at his dormitory. He was confirmed to have Covid-19 after his death on May 11. The cause of death is coronary thrombosis (a blood clot inside the heart's blood vessel).

Join our Telegram channel to get TODAY's headline news: t.me/todayonlinesg