The Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed 399 new Covid-19 cases in Singapore as of July 21, 12pm, bringing the total number of cases to 48,434.
MOH said that the higher number of cases today is mainly due to a batch of test results from the previous day reported to them after the 12pm cut-off for yesterday’s reporting.
Six of the nine community cases are unlinked.
New places visited by Covid-19 cases
MOH has also added one new entry to the list of locations visited by Covid-19 patients during their infectious period (i.e. the past 14 days), as follows:
- July 13, 7:35pm to 8:40pm - FairPrice Joo Chiat Complex (2 Joo Chiat Road)
Here's the most updated list of places visited by infectious Covid-19 cases as of July 21.
Those who had been identified as close contacts of confirmed cases would already have been notified by MOH.
As a precautionary measure, persons who had been at these locations during the specified timings should monitor their health closely for 14 days from their date of visit.
They should see a doctor promptly if they develop symptoms of acute respiratory infection (such as cough, sore throat and runny nose), as well as fever and loss of taste or smell, and inform the doctor of their exposure history.
There is no need to avoid places where confirmed cases of Covid-19 have been. The National Environment Agency will engage the management of affected premises to provide guidance on cleaning and disinfection.
Breakdown of new cases
Cases residing in dormitories: 387
The vast majority of cases continue to be Work Pass holders residing in foreign worker dormitories.
MOH said that this is "because of extensive testing in these premises, as part of our process to verify and test the status of all workers".
Imported cases: 3
There are three new imported cases.
Two of the imported cases (Cases 48148 and 48149) arrived in Singapore from India on July 9.
They had been placed on 14-day Stay-Home Notice (SHN) upon arrival in Singapore, and had been tested while serving their SHN.
The third imported case (Case 48146) had arrived in Singapore from the Philippines on July 19, and was conveyed directly to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases as he was symptomatic.
He is a seaman currently holding a Special Pass.
Cases in the community: 9
Nine of the new cases are cases in the community.
Of these, one is a Singaporean, three are Work Pass holders, and five are Work Permit holders.
Of the nine cases in the community, seven were picked up as a result of MOH's proactive surveillance and screening, and two had already been placed on quarantine earlier.
Eight of the nine community cases are asymptomatic, and were detected through proactive testing.
Three of the community cases today are linked to previous cases or clusters. Of these, two cases (Cases 48259 and 48513) had been identified as contacts of previously confirmed cases, and had been placed on quarantine earlier.
These two cases are asymptomatic and were tested during quarantine to determine their status.
The remaining linked case (Case 48154) is also asymptomatic, and was swabbed as part of MOH's efforts to screen individuals working in frontline Covid-19 operations.
Unlinked cases
Six of the community cases are currently unlinked. All of them were detected from proactive screening of workers in essential services who are living outside the dormitories, even though five of them are asymptomatic.
Epidemiological investigations of the unlinked cases are in progress.
In the meantime, all the identified close contacts of the cases have been isolated and placed on quarantine, and will be tested at the start and end of their quarantine period so that asymptomatic cases can be detected.
Serological tests will also be conducted for their household contacts to determine if these cases could have been infected by them.
Overall, the number of new cases in the community has decreased, from an average of 13 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 10 per day in the past week.
The number of unlinked cases in the community has also decreased, from an average of seven cases per day in the week before, to an average of six per day in the past week.
Discharged cases & cases in care facilities
213 more cases of Covid-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities.
In all, 44,584 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.
There are currently 170 confirmed cases who are still in hospital.
Of these, most are stable or improving, and none are in intensive care units.
3,653 are isolated and cared for at community facilities. These are those who have mild symptoms, or are clinically well but still test positive for Covid-19.
27 have passed away from complications due to Covid-19 infection.
Top photo via Google Streetview.