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SINGAPORE – The Ministry of Health (MINSA) confirmed 49 new cases of COVID-19 as of Wednesday (September 2), bringing the country’s total to 56,860 and three more groups linked to dormitories of foreign workers.
Six cases are now linked to the Changi Lodge 2 bedroom at 80 Tanah Merah Coast Road, while seven are linked to North Coast Lodge at 51 North Coast Avenue and Toh Guan Dormitory at 19A Toh Guan Road East each.
The Health Ministry also revised the city-state count down from 56,901 to 56,860, and 41 cases were eliminated after they were “verified to be negative for COVID-19 after further investigation.”
Of the 49 new cases, 46, about 94 percent, are asymptomatic and have been proactively detected through screening and surveillance, the ministry said.
Three, including one from Singapore, are classified as community cases. Three others are imported cases and have been listed on the stay-at-home notice or isolated upon arrival in Singapore.
The remaining 43 cases are foreign workers living in dormitories, of which 14 had previously been identified as contacts from previous cases and had already been quarantined.
Overall, 18% of new cases have no established links.
The three community cases have no established links. Two of them were detected through listed routine tests of workers in the construction, marine and processes living outside of dormitories, the Health Ministry said.
The remaining case from the community, a 29-year-old Singaporean woman, was detected through enhanced community testing to assess all individuals aged 13 and over who were diagnosed with an acute respiratory infection at the first consultation with a doctor.
Epidemiological investigations of the cases are ongoing, while all identified close contacts of the cases have been isolated and quarantined, and will be tested at the beginning and end of their quarantine period, the Health Ministry said.
“We will also perform serological tests for your household contacts to determine if they may have been infected by them,” he added.
The ministry also noted that the number of new cases in the community has increased, from an average of two cases per day in the previous week, to an average of three per day in the last week.
On the other hand, the number of unrelated cases in the community has remained stable at an average of one case per day in the last two weeks.
Indonesian sailor among imported cases
Two of the three imported cases are work pass or work permit holders currently employed in Singapore who arrived from India and the Philippines on August 21.
Both had been placed on the 14-day stay-at-home notice upon arrival here, and had been assessed while complying with the notice at dedicated facilities, the Health Ministry said.
The third imported case, a 41-year-old Indonesian man, is a sailor who had been examined upon arrival from his home country on August 26.
“They had isolated him while he was waiting for the result of his test and he was later transferred by ambulance to a hospital when he tested positive,” the ministry added.
29 bedroom cases detected through surveillance tests
Among the 43 cases residing in dormitories, 14 had previously been identified as previous case contacts and were tested during quarantine to determine their status, the Health Ministry said.
The remaining 29 cases were detected by surveillance tests.
In addition to the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, or smear, serological tests were also performed to determine if some of these cases are current or past infections.
“The results of the serological tests of 23 cases have been positive so far, indicating probable past infections,” said MINSA.
Overall, these workers account for 94.4 percent, or 53,721 ‘cases, of Singapore’s total COVID-19 count.
More than 55,800 cases discharged; no patient in ICU
With 142 more patients discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities on Wednesday, 55,891 cases, or 98.2 percent of the total, have fully recovered from the infection.
Most of the 75 hospitalized cases are stable or improving, while none are critically ill in the intensive care unit.
A total of 867 patients with mild symptoms or who are clinically well but still test positive are isolated and cared for in community facilities.
