4 primary school students among 19 new Covid-19 community cases in Singapore

• Singapore recorded 19 new Covid-19 community cases and 12 imported ones on May 15
• The community cases include four primary school students linked to two separate clusters
• Eight new cases and an earlier detected case were linked to the Changi Airport cluster
• This brings the total number of cases in the airport cluster to 68, the largest here

SINGAPORE — Four primary school students were among 19 new community Covid-19 cases on Saturday (May 15).

Of the 19, 17 were linked to previous cases while the remaining two were not.

In addition, there were 12 imported cases, bringing the total number of new cases on Saturday to 31.

The two community cases with no known sources of infection were:

• A Singaporean, 53, who works as a personal chauffeur. He developed a sore throat on May 12 and a fever the next day, and went to see a general practitioner (GP) 

• An unemployed 49-year-old Singaporean man who developed a sore throat on May 12 evening and saw a GP  the next day

LEARNING POINT CLUSTER

Three more cases were linked to a 50-year-old Singaporean female tutor at Learning Point centre whose infection was confirmed on May 12. This brings the cluster to nine cases.

The three new cases were:

• A 41-year-old male Singaporean who works as a sales personnel at Aero Light. He is a family member and household contact of a Kong Hwa student, aged eight, whose infection was detected earlier

• A 12-year-old Singaporean boy and his eight-year-old brother — both students at St Andrew’s Junior School. They took the same school bus with another nine-year-old boy from the school whose infection was detected earlier

CLUSTER LINKED TO SENGKANG GENERAL HOSPITAL NURSE

Two more cases were linked to a 33-year-old male Filipino operating theatre nurse at Sengkang General Hospital. He was confirmed to have Covid-19 on May 11. The cluster now has five cases.

The two new cases were:

• A six-year-old Singaporean student of Palm View Primary School. He is a classmate of a seven-year-old Filipino boy at EduFirst Learning Centre (Hougang). The Filipino boy is a household contact of the nurse

• A seven-year-old boy who is a classmate of the Filipino boy at both Yio Chu Kang Primary School and at EduFirst Learning Centre (Hougang)

CHANGI AIRPORT CLUSTER

Nine more cases were linked to the 88-year-old male Singaporean who is employed by Ramky Cleantech Services as a cleaner at Changi Airport Terminal 3. He was confirmed to have Covid-19 on May 5.   

This brings the airport cluster to 68 cases, the largest in Singapore.

The nine new cases included a cook at the Kopitiam food court in Changi Airport Terminal 3 and several staff members of Ramky Cleantech, all of whom were contacts of earlier detected cases.

Of the nine cases, eight were new ones and one was an earlier detected case, a 40-year-old Singaporean woman.

The risk assessment personnel at property group Lendlease was confirmed to have Covid-19 on May 8. Genome sequencing and phylogenetic analysis revealed that she is linked to the airport cluster.

“Further epidemiological investigations are ongoing to determine how the cases are linked,” the Ministry of Health (MOH).

The other four linked community cases were:

• An 80-year-old Singaporean woman who had been warded in Tan Tock Seng Hospital's Ward 9D from April 5. This brings the number of cases in the hospital cluster to 46

• A 55-year-old female Singaporean homemaker who is a household contact of an earlier detected case

• A 70-year-old male Singaporean retiree who is a household contact of an earlier detected case

• A 32-year-old male Singaporean who is an inmate at Changi Prison Complex. He is a close contact of a 39-year-old male China national who is employed by Sats Food Services as a cook at Changi Prison Complex. The cook's infection was confirmed on May 13   

There were no cases in foreign worker dormitories reported on Saturday.

IMPORTED CASES
 
The 12 imported cases were:

• A Singaporean and six permanent residents who returned from India, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines

• A work pass holder who came from Sri Lanka

• Four work permit holders who arrived from Indonesia and the Philippines

They were all placed on stay-home notice upon arrival here and were tested while serving the notice, MOH said.

UPDATE ON REMAINING CASES

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has jumped from 43 cases in the week before to 103 cases in the past week.

The total number of Covid-19 cases in Singapore now stands at 61,536.

In all, 61,062 have fully recovered and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities, including 15 on Saturday.

There are still 190 patients in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and three are in critical condition under intensive care.

Another 253 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.

To date, 31 people have died from complications due to the disease.