1,018 Covid-19 patients discharged in Singapore; 2 new clusters in dormitories

[SINGAPORE] A total of 1,018 Covid-19 patients were discharged on Thursday (May 28), after the Ministry of Health (MOH) announced that all coronavirus patients who are assessed to be clinically well and no longer infectious by day 21 of their illness will be discharged without having to undergo further tests.

It is the fourth time since the first case was reported in January that daily discharge figures have exceeded 1,000.

Two new clusters have emerged, one at a dormitory at 15 Kaki Bukit Road 4 and another at a dormitory at 31 Kranji Crescent.

On Thursday, there were 373 new coronavirus cases.

Of these, there was one community case: a 49-year-old pre-school employee who is a work pass holder from China.

There was no new Singaporean and permanent resident patients. The last time there were no new Covid-19 cases here among citizens or permanent residents was on Feb 23. This was also the last time there were no new coronavirus cases reported in the country.

The remaining 372 cases were migrant workers staying in dormitories.

With 1,018 new cases discharged on Thursday, a total of 18,285 patients have fully recovered from the disease, or 55 per cent of the 33,249 Covid-19 patients here.

As of Thursday, 510 remain in hospital, including seven in the intensive care unit. A total of 14,422 are in community facilities.

The average number of new daily community cases has dropped, with the ministry attributing it partly to active surveillance and screening of pre-school staff.

This has decreased from six two weeks ago to five in the past week, while the number of unlinked community cases has remained stable at two per day for the last two weeks.

Of the new cases, 99 per cent are linked to known clusters, and contact tracing is ongoing for the rest.

Twenty-three people have died from Covid-19 complications in Singapore, while nine who tested positive have died from other causes.

Globally, the outbreak, which began in December last year, has infected more than 5.78 million people. Some 357,000 have died.

THE STRAITS TIMES