SINGAPORE: Singapore reported 334 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday (Apr 14), bringing the national total to 3,252.
One more fatality was confirmed – a 70-year-old Singaporean man linked to the SAFRA Jurong cluster – bringing the death toll from the novel coronavirus to 10.
The man, known as Case 128, was confirmed to have the infection on Mar 6.
“The National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) has reached out to his family and is extending assistance to them,” the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in its daily update.
None of the cases reported on Tuesday are imported.
Of the new cases, 198 are linked to previously identified clusters. The “vast majority” are work permit holders in dormitories, said MOH.
Twenty-two of the new cases are linked to other local cases. Ten of of them are Singapore citizens or permanent residents and 12 are work permit holders.
A total of 114 are still unlinked, pending contact tracing. Of these, 24 are Singaporeans or permanent residents. A total of 85 are work permit holders, three are S pass holders, one is an employment pass holder and one has a dependant’s pass.
The Health Ministry also announced one new cluster, a foreign worker dormitory called PPT Lodge 1A at 8 Seletar North Link. Eleven cases are now linked to this cluster.
Singapore’s largest COVID-19 cluster, S11 Dormitory @ Punggol, continues to grow. There are 132 new cases, bringing the total to 718.
More cases have also been linked to other dormitories, construction sites and Mustafa Centre.
MOH added on Tuesday that 25 more cases have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 611 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged.
There are 1,315 confirmed cases who are still in hospital, and most are stable or improving.
A total of 28 patients are in critical condition in the intensive care unit, while 1,316 cases who are clinically well but still test positive for COVID-19 are being isolated and cared for at community facilities.
COVID-19 SITUATION STILL “CRITICAL”
At a press conference earlier on Tuesday, Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said that by and large, Singaporeans are taking circuit breaker measures seriously, but the country cannot be complacent.
Mr Gan, who co-chairs the multi-ministry task force set up to handle the COVID-19 situation, said: “We remain in a critical situation, the number of cases has been increasing.”
Singapore has put in place strict safe distancing measures during what it calls a circuit breaker period to stem the spread of COVID-19. The measures – which include closing non-essential workplaces and schools – will be in place for one month until May 4.
He noted that Monday’s tally, 386, was the highest daily total so far.
The number of cases among foreign workers, especially those in dormitories, rose sharply to around 200 cases per day, reaching about 300 cases on Monday, he added.
INTERACTIVE: All the COVID-19 clusters at dorms and construction sites
“This increase is likely to continue as we undertake more testing in the dormitories. The outbreak in the foreign worker dormitories has become an important front in our fight against COVID-19,” he said.
A large number of Singapore’s recent COVID-19 cases have been linked to foreign worker dormitories.
Eight dormitories have been declared isolation areas, meaning residents have to be quarantined in their rooms.
Also speaking at the press conference, MOH’s director of medical services Associate Professor Kenneth Mak said that the multi-ministry task force was working on a strategy for testing at dormitories, in cooperation with the inter-agency task force set up to provide support to foreign workers and dormitory operators.
“At this point in time, for the majority of the purpose-built dormitories, we don’t have an approach of testing everyone … It’s a much more targeted approach of testing those who step forward, who are sick with symptoms,” he said.
However, the joint task force may also try to actively find patients who are asymptomatic, but infected, he added.
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