The Ministry of Health (MOH) has preliminarily confirmed 793 new cases of Covid-19 as of 12pm on Friday, May 15.

This brings the total number of reported cases in Singapore to 26,891.

Among the confirmed cases, just one is either a Singaporean or Permanent Resident.

The majority of the cases are Work Permit holders residing in foreign worker dormitories.

Further updates will be shared in a separate announcement from the Ministry on Friday evening.

Single-digit community cases for past five days

In the past five days, Singapore reported a sustained single-digit number of community cases.

According to MOH's definition, "community cases" refer to the incidence of spread among Singaporeans, PRs and Work Pass holders.

Daily community cases

• May 10: 4 (2 Singaporeans/PRs, 2 Work Passes)
• May 11: 3 (2 Singaporeans/PRs, 1 Work Pass)
• May 12: 4 (3 Singaporeans/PRs, 1 Work Pass)
• May 13: 4 ( 2 Singaporeans/PRs, 2 Work Passes)
• May 14: 2 ( 2 Singaporeans/PRs)

Individuals being discharged from facilities also on the rise

The number of Covid-19-positive individuals who are reported to have been discharged from quarantine facilities has also been on the rise in recent days, hitting record highs each day over the past five days, topping off at 1,164 on May 14.

Numbers of individuals discharged

• May 10: 425
• May 11: 504
• May 12: 626
• May 13: 958
• May 14: 1,164

MOH to test entire population of 300,000 migrant workers and pre-school staff

On May 12, the Multi-Ministry Task Force said that it would be testing the entire population of 300,000 dormitory-dwelling migrant workers, in order to facilitate their eventual safe return to work.

All preschool staff in Singapore will also be tested from Friday (May 15) for Covid-19 ahead of centres reopening, at a date the Ministry for Social and Family development have not yet announced.

Govt agencies recruiting swab assistants and Covid-19 test swabbers

Additionally, MOH aims to ramp up the number of Covid-19 tests to 40,000 per day by the later part of the year.

To facilitate this, a recruitment exercise is being conducted by the Health Promotion Board (HPB), the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), and the Employment and Employability Institute (e2i).

Individuals who are hired as swab assistants will earn a monthly salary of S$3,400, while those who are converted to swabbers will earn S$3,800 a month.

This has caused disquiet over several in the medical community, however, with some questioning the high salaries being paid to applicants relative to starting salaries of fresh graduates in nursing, for instance:

Top image via JurongHealth Campus on Facebook