19 imported Covid-19 cases on Dec. 20 arrived from UK, India, Russia & Indonesia

Tonight's update.

Kayla Wong | December 20, 2020, 10:50 PM

The Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed 19 new cases of Covid-19, as of Dec. 20, 2020.

This brings the total number of cases to 58,422.

There are no new cases of locally transmitted Covid-19 infections, and no cases residing in dormitories today.

Breakdown of 19 imported cases

Amongst the new cases reported on Dec. 20, 18 of them were asymptomatic.

Here's a breakdown of the imported cases:

  • Two (Cases 58640 and 58652) are Singaporeans
  • Three (Cases 58638, 58643 and 58658) are Singapore Permanent Residents who returned from the UK and India
  • Two are a Work Pass holder (Case 58644) and a Work Permit holder (Case 58653) currently employed in Singapore who arrived from Russia and Indonesia
  • Three (Cases 58641, 58642 and 58657) are Long-Term Visit Pass holders who arrived from India
  • One (Case 58637) Dependant’s Pass holder who arrived from the UK

Another four are Short-Term Visit Pass holders.

Of these, one (Case 58646) was already receiving medical care in Singapore and had returned for further treatment, accompanied by his caregiver (Case 58645).

The other two (Cases 58647 and 58656) are here to visit their family members who are Singaporeans or Singapore Permanent Residents.

The remaining four (Cases 58648, 58649, 58650 and 58651) are Special Pass holders who are crew members of a ship which arrived from Indonesia.

They had remained on the ship until they were conveyed to a quarantine facility as they had been identified as close contacts of an earlier confirmed case.

They had all already been placed on SHN or isolated upon arrival in Singapore and were tested while serving SHN or during isolation.

Table via MOH

Table via MOH

MOH investigating 3 more cases who served SHN at Mandarin Orchard Singapore

Earlier this afternoon (Dec. 20), MOH shared that it was investigating three more Covid-19 cases who served SHN at Mandarin Orchard to determine if they could be linked to the 13 cases.

The ministry said it is likely that these are imported cases and have been included in the case count for Dec. 20.

MOH added that it has tested 571 staff of Mandarin Orchard Singapore so far. Of these, 158 test results have been processed, with 413 results pending. All 158 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test results have come back negative for Covid-19.

However, the serological tests of three staff members have come back positive, indicating likely past infections, the ministry said.

Epidemiological investigations of these cases are in progress.

MOH also investigating 13 Covid-19 cases

MOH is also currently investigating 13 previously reported cases of Covid-19 infection amongst individuals who had served SHN at Mandarin Orchard Singapore between Oct. 22 and Nov. 11.

As a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of all guests, the hotel has stopped accepting new guests since Dec. 19 and is checking out existing guests progressively.

Individuals serving SHN at Mandarin Orchard Singapore have been transported via dedicated vehicles to an alternative SHN dedicated facility.

5 more cases discharged

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

In all, 58,279 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.

There are currently 43 confirmed cases who are still in the hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and none is in the intensive care unit.

71 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.

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

No new locations

MOH regularly updates a list of public places visited by confirmed Covid-19 cases for more than 30 minutes when they were infectious.

No new locations were added to the list on Dec. 20.

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Top image via Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images