The Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed 77 new Covid-19 cases in Singapore on Thursday (Aug. 27).

This brings the total number of cases to 56,572.

Cases in the community: 2 (including 13-year-old unlinked case)

There are two cases in the community.

Both cases were detected under MOH's enhanced community testing to test all individuals aged 13 and above who are diagnosed with acute respiratory infection (ARI) at first presentation to a doctor.

One of the cases (Case 56627), a 13-year-old male Singaporean, is currently unlinked.

Epidemiological investigations of the case are in progress.

In the meantime, all the identified close contacts of the case have been isolated and placed on quarantine, and will be tested at the start and end of their quarantine period.

Serological tests for the case's household contacts will also be conducted to determine if he could have been infected by them.

The other community case (Case 56626) is linked to a previous case.

Epidemiological investigations found that she had visited SLR Revolution at Excelsior Shopping Centre (5 Coleman Street) on Aug. 17 and may have had contact with Case 56184, who had gone to work at the shop during his infectious period.

Overall, MOH said that the number of new cases in the community has increased, from an average of one case per day in the week before, to an average of two per day in the past week. They will continue to closely monitor these numbers.

Cases residing in dormitories: 70

Amongst the 70 cases residing in dormitories, 66 had been identified earlier as contacts of previous cases and had already been quarantined to prevent further transmission.

They were tested during quarantine to determine their status.

The remaining four cases were detected through surveillance testing, including from the bi-weekly Rostered Routine Testing of workers living in dormitories and testing of those with acute respiratory infection (ARI) symptoms.

The serological test results for eight cases have come back positive so far, which indicate likely past infections.

Imported cases: 5

Amongst the five imported cases, two (Cases 56594 and 56595) are Singaporeans/Permanent Residents who returned to Singapore from India on Aug. 14 and 15.

Another two (Cases 56642 and 56649) are Dependant’s Pass and Long-Term Pass holders who arrived from India on Aug. 15 and China on Aug. 16.

All of them had been placed on 14-day Stay-Home Notice (SHN) upon arrival in Singapore, and had been tested while serving their SHN.

The remaining case (Case 56621) is a seaman who is a Special Pass holder.

He arrived in Singapore from India on Aug. 8 on a vessel, where he had not disembarked from.

As he had been identified as a close contact of previous cases on the same vessel earlier announced by MOH, he had been placed on quarantine and was tested during quarantine to determine his status.

Discharged cases & cases in care facilities

168 more cases of Covid-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities.

In all, 55,139 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.

There are currently 66 confirmed cases who are still in hospital.

Of these, most are stable or improving, and none is in the intensive care unit.

1,340 are isolated and cared for at community facilities.

27 have passed away from complications due to Covid-19 infection.

Locations visited by cases

MOH regularly updates a list of public places visited by confirmed cases for more than 30 minutes during their infectious period.

Two new location were added to the list of places visited by Covid-19 patient(s) while infectious:

• Our Tampines Hub (1 Tampines Walk) which was visited on Aug. 22 from 3pm to 3.45pm
• Elias Mall (623 Elias Road) which was visited on Aug. 19 from 7:45am to 9:05am.

  • 623 F&B Pte Ltd
  • Sheng Siong Supermarket

Here is the full list as of Aug. 27:

Those who had been identified as close contacts of confirmed cases would already have been notified by MOH.

As a precautionary measure, those 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.

MOH also said that 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.

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Top image from JurongHealth Campus/Facebook.