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SINGAPORE: Seventeen new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Singapore as of noon on Saturday (December 19), the Ministry of Health (MOH) said.
All new cases were imported and placed on notice of admission or isolated upon arrival in Singapore. No new cases were found in the community or in the dormitories of foreign workers.
Among the 17 imported cases are a Singaporean and two permanent residents who returned from the United Kingdom, India and the United States.
Eight others are work permit holders currently employed in Singapore who came from Indonesia and India.
The remaining six cases are holders of short-term visitation passes. Of these, two came from the UK and India to visit their relatives who are Singaporean or permanent residents, while three are members of the crew of a ship that arrived from Indonesia.
“They had not disembarked from the ship and were examined on board and subsequently transferred to hospital when their results came back positive for COVID-19 infection,” the Health Ministry said.
The remaining imported case came from Malaysia for a work project in Singapore.
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Nine more cases of COVID-19 were discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. A total of 17,274 cases have fully recovered from the infection.
There are currently 38 cases that are still in the hospital, most of which are stable or improving. No one is in the intensive care unit.
Another 62 cases are isolated and treated in community facilities. These cases have mild symptoms or are clinically well but still test positive for COVID-19.
READ: 13 Imported COVID-19 Cases Delivering Stay-at-Home Notice at Mandarin Orchard Hotel Investigated for ‘Possible Link’
Separately, the Health Ministry said it is investigating 13 imported COVID-19 cases that delivered their stay-at-home notice at the Mandarin Orchard Singapore hotel after they were observed to have “high genetic similarity” despite coming from different countries.
The Singapore Health Ministry and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) said Saturday that this suggests the cases were “likely infected from a similar source” and cannot exclude that the transmissions could have occurred at the Mandarin Orchard hotel.
The cases submitted their stay-at-home notice at the hotel between October 22 and November 11.
As a precautionary measure, the hotel will stop accepting new guests with immediate effect and all current guests will be removed, authorities said in a press release.
In an update on Saturday night, the Health Ministry said it has tested most of those who are currently complying with their stay-at-home notice, and their test results are pending.
COMPLIANCE VERIFICATIONS
Government agencies will intensify compliance checks on safe management measures for COVID-19 at food and beverage outlets (F&B) starting this weekend, the Ministry of Sustainability and Environment (MSE) said on Friday. ).
The increase in the number of inspections, which will take place over the next few weeks, is to ensure compliance with the safe handling measures for COVID-19 during the holiday period.
The MSE also reminded food and beverage outlets and customers that the current five-person group size limit will apply until Phase 3 of Singapore’s reopening goes into effect on December 28, when they are allowed. social gatherings of up to eight people in public.
Singapore has reported a total of 58,403 COVID-19 infections as of Saturday, with the death toll at 29.
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