Almost all 27 new COVID cases in S'pore asymptomatic; 9 imported

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed 27 new COVID-19 cases as of Tuesday (29 September), taking Singapore’s total case count to 57,742.

The ministry also announced the closure of the cluster at SLR Revolution at Excelsior Shopping Centre, as there have been no cases linked to it for the past two incubation periods, or 28 days.

All but one of the 27 new cases are asymptomatic and were proactively detected, said the MOH.

Of them, one is classified as a case in the community, while nine, including a Singaporean, are imported – seven arrived from India, while two arrived from Indonesia.

The remaining 17 cases are foreign workers living in dormitories, of which eight had been identified earlier as contacts of previous cases, and had already been quarantined.

Overall, 15 per cent of the new cases have no established links.

The lone case in the community, no. 57867, had been identified as a household contact of cases 57847 and 57861. When contacted by the MOH on 27 September after case 57847 was confirmed with COVID-19 infection, case 57867 reported having symptoms earlier and was immediately conveyed to a hospital for a swab, said the ministry.

He was tested positive subsequently.

The MOH said the number of new cases in the community has remained stable at an average of fewer than one case per day in the past two weeks. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also remained stable at an average of fewer than one case per day in the past two weeks, it added.

Amongst the nine imported cases, the Singaporean and five cases who are permanent residents returned to Singapore from Indonesia on 18 September and India between 16 September and 18 September, respectively.

Another two are work pass or permit holders currently employed here who arrived from Indonesia on 17 September and India on 16 September, respectively.

The remaining case is a dependant’s pass holder who arrived from India on 17 September.

All of them had been placed on the 14-day stay-home notice upon arrival here and were tested while serving their notice at dedicated facilities, said the MOH.

9 cases in dorms detected via surveillance testing

Amongst the 17 cases residing in dorms, eight had been identified earlier as contacts of previous cases, and were tested during quarantine, said the MOH.

The remaining nine cases were detected through surveillance testing, such as the bi-weekly rostered routine testing of workers living in dorms.

Of Singapore’s COVID-19 tally, 54,427 – or 94.3 per cent – are foreign workers living in dorms.

99% of total cases have recovered

With 73 more patients discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities on Tuesday, 57,466 cases – or 99.5 per cent of the total – have fully recovered from the infection.

Most of the 32 hospitalised cases are stable or improving, while none is in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

A total of 217 patients with mild symptoms or are clinically well but still test positive are isolated and cared for at community facilities.

Apart from 27 patients who have died from COVID-19 complications, 15 others 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.

Stay in the know on-the-go: Join Yahoo Singapore's Telegram channel at http://t.me/YahooSingapore

More Singapore stories:

Man on trial for sexually assaulting sister's drunken friend

Man handcuffed and blindfolded girl for 'photoshoot' in toilet before molesting her

Workplace injuries down 25% while fatality cases remain stable: MOM

Indonesian maid fled abusive employer by climbing down 15 storeys of residential block via balcony