SINGAPORE – The number of coronavirus cases hit 1,000 in Singapore on Wednesday (April 1) with the Ministry of Health announcing 74 new cases.
The new cases included those at two new clusters, including the first cluster at an old aged home.
A further 10 cases have now been linked to the Lee Ah Mooi Old Age Home at 1 Thomson Lane after one case was first identified there yesterday. Among the new cases is a 102-year-old woman, the oldest Covid-19 patient to date in Singapore.
The second new cluster was at a dormitory at 55 Sungei Kadut Loop. Two new cases are linked to a previous case from that dormitory.
There are now at least three dormitories with active clusters. On Wednesday, there were six more cases at the S11 dormitory at Seletar North Link and two more cases at the Westlite Toh Guan dormitory on Toh Guan Road East.
There was also one more case linked to the serviced apartment Wilby Residences and one more case linked to the cluster at Hero’s, the bar on Circular Road.
All in, 54 of the 74 cases on Wednesday are local cases and 20 are imported. Of the local cases, 29 are linked to previous cases and clusters while 25 are currently unlinked.
Five cases were discharged from hospitals and community isolation facilities, with the number of those recovered now at 245.
Of the 457 confirmed cases who are still in hospital, most are stable or improving. There are 24 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.
There are also 291 cases who are clinically well being isolated at Concord International Hospital, Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Gleneagles Hospital and the Community Isolation Facility at D’Resort NTUC because they still test positive.
Singapore has reported three deaths from the virus since the first case was reported here on Jan 23, with all fatalities coming this month.
Separately, Unity Pharmacy has said one of its part-time retail assistants has the coronavirus. It is unclear if the worker is included in the the Ministry’s numbers on Wednesday.
The employee was last at work at the Nex Mall outlet on March 30 and tested positive on April 1. The staff member visited a doctor on March 31 with a fever.
Unity Pharmacy said it is closing its outlet at Nex Mall for two days for cleaning. It will reopen on April 3. Unity said it has put in place precautionary measures since the onset of the outbreak, including cleaning shelves and checkout counters every four hours and taking the temperature of staff members and suppliers twice a day.
Earlier on Wednesday, NTUC FairPrice said it had closed its FairPrice Finest supermarket in Bedok Mall after one of its staff tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday.
It has also put all staff who work in the store on leave of absence, in addition to quarantining the employee, who it said replenished stock and had minimal contact with customers.
The employee last worked on March 25, and was on leave on March 26 before developing a fever and seeing a doctor on March 27. It is also not clear if this staff member was included in the 74 new cases announced on Wednesday.
The Bedok supermarket will be closed for deep cleaning until April 4, and FairPrice is helping the authorities with contact tracing.