The Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed an additional 54 cases of Covid-19 in Singapore earlier today (Aug. 30).
This brings the total number of cases to 56,771.
Cases residing in dormitories: 39
Among the 39 new cases residing in dormitories, 22 were identified earlier as contacts of previous cases, and had already been quarantined to prevent further spread of the infection.
They were tested during quarantine to determine their status.
The remaining 17 cases were detected through surveillance testing.
Imported cases: Seven
Of the seven imported cases reported today, five are Singaporeans/PR who returned to Singapore from Bangladesh on Aug. 17, India on Aug. 18 and Aug. 22, the Philippines on Aug. 18 and the UAE on Aug. 8.
Another case is a Work Permit holder currently employed in Singapore who arrived from the Philippines on Aug. 18. The remaining case is a Dependant’s Pass holder who also arrived from Pakistan on Aug. 18.
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 at dedicated facilities.
Cases in the community: Eight
There are eight new cases outside of dormitories, seven of whom are Singaporeans/PR and one is a Work Pass holder.
Of the eight cases in the community, two were picked up as a result of proactive surveillance and screening, and six had already been placed on quarantine earlier, according to MOH.
Three of the cases are asymptomatic.
Seven of the new cases are linked to previous cases or clusters, and six had been placed in quarantine earlier.
There is one case in the community who is currently unlinked.
Among the community cases, five cases (Cases 56823, 56827, 56830, 56831 and 56832) are part of a family cluster involving individuals across two households.
These individuals had participated in family gatherings, and investigations are ongoing to see if there were any breaches of safe distancing rules.
"We take a serious view of such breaches and will not hesitate to take enforcement actions against any offenders," the ministry added.
Another case (Case 56826) is a colleague of Case 56184 at SLR Revolution at Excelsior Shopping Centre (5 Coleman Street), and had earlier been placed on quarantine.
As a precautionary measure following the detection of an earlier case (Case 56626) who had visited the shop during Case 56184’s infectious period, MOH has identified and contacted 240 individuals who had visited SLR Revolution at Excelsior Shopping Centre between August 15-18 August 2020, and facilitated COVID-19 testing for all of them.
So far, a total of 224 individuals have been swabbed and the results are pending. MOH is facilitating testing for the remaining individuals.
The remaining case had gone to see a General Practitioner under the Swab and Send Home (SASH) Programme on Aug. 27 and was diagnosed with acute respiratory infection (ARI), and was administered with a swab test.
Before the test result was ready, the patient was separately identified as a close contact of another case and was placed on quarantine on Aug. 28. The test result from the clinic subsequently confirmed that this was a positive case.
Two new locations visited by infectious cases
MOH regularly updates a list of public places visited by confirmed cases for more than 30 minutes when they were still infectious.
There were two new locations reported today:
- Aug 22, 2:30pm to 3:30pm: Westgate (3 Gateway Drive)
- Aug 23, 10:15am to 11am: Old Airport Road Food Centre & Shopping Mall (51 Old Airport Road)
Here is the full list of locations, as of Aug. 30:
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.
Top image of shoes for illustration purposes only