COVID-19: Singapore confirms new high of 75 cases, four new clusters
SINGAPORE – The Ministry of Health (MOH) announced on Saturday (4 April) that there are 75 more coronavirus cases here, bringing the country’s total to 1,189.
There are four new clusters: at Sungei Tengah Lodge (500 Old Choa Chu Kang Road), Toh Guan Dormitory (19A Toh Guan Road East), Cochrane Lodge II (49 Admiralty Road West) and the Orange Ballroom (845 Geylang Road).
Of the new cases, six are imported while 69 are local transmissions. The six imported cases had travel history to Europe, North and South America and ASEAN countries.
There are 40 cases that are linked to previous cases or clusters, while 29 cases are currently unlinked, and contact tracing is ongoing.
Four new clusters
Investigations have uncovered links between previously announced and new cases and these have resulted in new clusters being identified. These are:
Sungei Tengah Lodge (500 Old Choa Chu Kang Road), a foreign worker dormitory: One of the newly confirmed cases (Case 1124) is linked to two previous cases (Cases 1054 and 1077) here.
Toh Guan Dormitory (19A Toh Guan Road East), which houses foreign workers: Two of the newly confirmed cases (Cases 1148 and 1150) are linked to three previous cases (Cases 963, 1079 and 1106) here.
Cochrane Lodge II (49 Admiralty Road West), a foreign worker dormitory: Four of the earlier confirmed cases (Cases 956, 967, 1104 and 1018) have now been linked here.
The Orange Ballroom (845 Geylang Road), a wedding venue: One of the newly confirmed cases (Case 1115) is linked to three previous cases (Cases 510, 511 and 1007) here.
Other links found include:
A further 17 cases linked to the cluster at S11 Dormitory @ Punggol (2 Seletar North Link), which has a total of 41 confirmed cases now (Cases 826, 829, 852, 860, 946, 947, 966, 979, 982, 993, 1035, 1039, 1047, 1050, 1061, 1066, 1074, 1083, 1084, 1089, 1107, 1108, 1110, 1111, 1112, 1117, 1118, 1119, 1126, 1135, 1138, 1145, 1153, 1155, 1156, 1171, 1173, 1174, 1185, 1186 and 1187).
One additional case linked to the cluster at Westlite Toh Guan dormitory (18 Toh Guan Road East), which has a total of 18 confirmed cases now (Cases 655, 875, 922, 924, 925, 926, 934, 977, 1011, 1012, 1054, 1062, 1068, 1072, 1100, 1101, 1113 and 1176).
Three additional cases linked to the cluster at a construction site at Project Glory (50 Market Street), which has a total of nine confirmed cases now (Cases 956, 967, 1019, 1078, 1079, 1104, 1120, 1124 and 1149).
Four additional cases linked to the cluster at Mustafa Centre (145 Syed Alwi Road), which has a total of 19 cases now (Cases 616, 788, 866, 908, 911, 938, 1001, 1015, 1024, 1025, 1026, 1046, 1056, 1093, 1096, 1127, 1180, 1188 and 1189).
Two additional cases linked to the cluster at Keppel Shipyard (51 Pioneer Sector 1), which has a total of six cases now (Cases 878, 898, 907, 1076, 1158 and 1172).
Contact tracing is underway for 145 locally transmitted cases to establish any links to previous cases or travel history to affected countries or regions.
Cases from the public healthcare sector
Case 1137: She is a 24-year-old Malaysian who is a Long Term Pass holder with no recent travel history to affected countries or regions. Employed as a porter at Tan Tock Seng Hospital, she had been identified as a contact of Case 853 and was issued a home quarantine order on 31 March.
She reported onset of symptoms on 2 April, and subsequent test results confirmed COVID-19 infection on 3 April afternoon. She is currently warded in an isolation room at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID).
Case 1151: She is a 20-year-old Malaysian who is a Singapore Work Pass holder with no recent travel history to affected countries or regions. She is employed as a healthcare assistant at Sengkang General Hospital but had not gone to work since onset of symptoms.
She reported onset of symptoms on 31 March, and subsequent test results confirmed COVID-19 infection on 3 April. She is currently warded in an isolation room at SKH.
Case 1159: She is a 33-year-old Singaporean who has no recent travel history to affected countries or regions. She is employed as a patient service associate at the NCID, but had not interacted with any patients or visitors since onset of symptoms, which she reported on 3 April.
Subsequent test results confirmed COVID-19 infection on the same day. She is currently warded in an isolation room at NCID.
Case 1170: She is a 54-year-old Permanent Resident with no recent travel history to affected countries or regions. She is employed as an administrative staff at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital. As she had been identified as a family member of Case 953, she was issued a home quarantine order on 3 April.
She reported onset of symptoms on 2 April and had not gone to work since then. Subsequent test results confirmed COVID-19 infection on 4 April. She is currently warded in an isolation room at NCID.
26 in Intensive Care, six deaths
To date, 297 cases have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities.
Most of the remaining 500 hospitalised cases are stable or improving, while 26 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.
There are 486 cases who are clinically well but still test positive for the virus. These cases are isolated and cared for at Concord International Hospital, Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Gleneagles Hospital and the Community Isolation Facility at D’Resort NTUC.
Six have died from complications due to COVID-19 infection, with the latest fatality – an 88-year-old male Permanent Resident – succumbing to it early Saturday morning.
As of Saturday noon, MOH has identified 16,910 close contacts who have been quarantined. Of these, 5,984 are currently quarantined, and 10,926 have completed their quarantine.
Measures to combat spread of coronavirus in S’pore
Friday, Singapore announced an enhanced set of social distancing measures that includes the closure of schools and most workplaces. Only essential services like food establishments, markets and supermarkets, clinics, hospitals, utilities, transport, and key banking services will remain open.
Meanwhile, Singapore will no longer discourage the public from wearing face masks, as Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called these new measures as “circuit breakers” to pre-empt escalating COVID-19 infection.
Last Wednesday in Parliament, Health Minister and COVID-19 multi-ministry taskforce co-chair Gan Kim Yong said cases will continue to rise, as some of around 200,000 overseas Singaporeans return home.
All Singapore residents and long-term pass holders returning from overseas apart from Hubei province must serve the 14-day stay-home notice, while those returning from Hubei must serve a 14-day quarantine. All short-term visitors are barred from entering or transiting via Singapore.
Anyone who flouts the 14-day stay-home notice by leaving the place of accommodation or residence they are serving the notice in will be subjected to steep penalties.
Patients who flout their five-day medical leave can face steep penalties such as a fine of up to $10,000, according to the MOH’s latest updates to the Infectious Diseases Act.
The same penalties also apply to those who intentionally sit on a seat or stand in a queue less than one metre away from another person in public venues, from now till end-April.
Those on five-day sick leave or serving a stay-home notice must also wear a mask if they have to leave their place of accommodation to seek emergency medical treatment.
The Singapore government would also allocate over $48 billion to combat the “unprecedented” COVID-19 crisis, said Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat in his Ministerial Statement in Parliament last Thursday.
The sum is on top of the $6.4 billion Unity Budget announced by Heng in February that was meant to alleviate the economic impact of the pandemic.
More than 1.1 million COVID-19 cases globally
To date, there are over 1,140,000 COVID-19 cases globally. Over 61,000 have died from the virus, with the death tolls in Spain and Italy accounting for almost half of the figure.
At over 279,000 cases, the US now holds the record of having the largest number of patients globally, followed by Italy and Spain at over 110,000 cases each, Germany at over 92,000, and France at over 82,000.
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