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SINGAPORE – The Ministry of Health (MINSA) confirmed 11 new cases of COVID-19 in Singapore, the lowest since March 12, through Friday (September 18), bringing the country’s total to 57.543.
The ministry also added state courts and a giant outlet at Sunshine Place to a list of public places visited by community cases while they were infectious.
Of the 11 new cases, all but one are asymptomatic and have been proactively detected, the Health Ministry said.
One, a Singaporean, is classified as a community case, while another is an imported case from India.
The remaining nine cases are foreign workers living in the dormitories, of whom five had previously been identified as contacts from previous cases and had already been quarantined.
Overall, 27% of new cases have no established links.
The only community case, currently unlinked, was detected through the enhanced community testing initiative to evaluate all individuals 13 years of age and older who are diagnosed with an acute respiratory infection on first presentation to a physician.
Epidemiological investigations into the case are ongoing, while all of his identified close contacts have been isolated and quarantined, and will be evaluated at the beginning and end of their quarantine period, the Health Ministry said.
“We will also perform serological tests on your household contacts to determine if you could have been infected by them,” he added.
MINSA said the number of new cases in the community has decreased, from an average of two cases per day in the previous week, to an average of one per day in the last week. He added that the number of unrelated cases in the community has been stable at less than one case per day in the past two weeks.
On the other hand, the only imported case is a work permit holder currently working here who arrived from India on 6 September. She had been placed on the 14-day stay-at-home notice upon arrival here and was examined while delivering her notice at a dedicated facility, the Health Ministry said.
Starting at 12 a.m. On Thursday, Singaporean non-residents, who are not Singaporeans and Permanent Residents (PRs), must test negative for the virus before traveling from India to Singapore.
The move was announced by authorities last week due to the resurgence of COVID-19 infections in India and a significant number of imported cases with recent travel to the country.
4 cases in bedrooms detected by surveillance tests
Among the 9 cases residing in dormitories, five had previously been identified as previous case contacts and were evaluated during quarantine, the Health Ministry said.
The remaining four cases were detected through surveillance tests, such as routine tests with biweekly lists of workers living in dormitories.
As of Friday, some 5,700 workers who must undergo routine tests have yet to do so, said the Ministry of Manpower, the Economic Development Board, the Building and Construction Authority and the Health Promotion Board in a joint return on the same day.
“This is a significant reduction from the 13,000 workers last week, and we would like to thank the employers for their cooperation,” authorities said.
The AccessCode status for workers who have not yet undergone routine testing will remain red and they will not be able to return to work.
Their AccessCode will be reset to green and they will be allowed to return to work once they have completed testing, authorities said.
The importance of the routine tests listed is demonstrated in one of the specially designed bedrooms, the joint statement added. As of late August, only 25 percent of the residents in the dormitory, who were not mentioned in the statement, who were required to undergo the tests, were actually doing so.
“A total of 115 COVID-19 cases in the bedroom were later recorded when the Assurance, Care and Engagement (ACE) group mounted a preventive test of all residents as a precautionary measure,” authorities said.
“Cases could have been detected and contained much earlier to prevent the spread of infection if all workers had been scheduled for their routine training.
The joint statement added that the ACE Group also found multiple lapses in implementing safe distancing measures and has notified the dormitory operator to correct these lapses.
“Additionally, the dormitory operator will enhance safe living measures through additional segregation infrastructure to limit mixing among residents,” he said.
Of Singapore’s COVID-19 count, 54,289, or 94.3 percent, are foreign workers living in dormitories.
99% of all cases have recovered.
With 32 more patients discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities on Friday, 57,071 cases, or 99.2 percent of the total, have fully recovered from the infection.
Most of the 38 hospitalized cases are stable or improving, while none are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.
A total of 407 patients with mild symptoms or who are clinically well but still test positive are isolated and cared for in community facilities.
In addition to 27 patients who died from complications of COVID-19, another 15 who tested positive for the virus were determined to have died from unrelated causes, including three whose deaths were attributed to a heart attack and another four whose deaths were attributed to coronary heart disease. . heart disease.
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