506 new Covid-19 cases in Singapore, including 2 Singaporeans and PRs

[SINGAPORE] A total of 506 new coronavirus cases were preliminarily confirmed on Saturday afternoon, including two Singaporeans and permanent residents.

The bulk of the remaining cases are foreign workers in living in dormitories.

The new cases take Singapore's total to 34,366.

More details will be released later on Saturday, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said.

On Friday, a record high of 1,337 patients were discharged, bringing the total number of patients who had recovered as of Friday night to 19,622.

This came a day after the ministry announced that it had changed its discharge criteria for patients.

Before Thursday, patients needed two negative swab tests 24 hours apart before they could be discharged. 

This meant that patients who were clinically well but who continued to test positive for the virus may have had to stay in community facilities for more than a month after they stopped having symptoms.

Now, those assessed to be clinically well by Day 21 of their illness will be sent home without having to undergo further tests, but they will still have to stay at home, or in their dormitories for a further seven days until Day 28 as a precautionary measure.

There were 611 new cases on Friday, including nine cases in the generally community involving two Singaporeans, a permanent resident, two work pass holders and four work permit holders.

The other 602 cases involved migrant workers living in dorms.

The work pass and work permit holders mostly tested positive during the ministry's proactive surveillance and screening of migrant workers.

The PR and one of the Singaporeans were linked to dormitory clusters and had been placed on quarantine earlier, while the other Singaporean was unlinked as of Friday night.

Two new dormitory clusters at 35 Kaki Bukit Place and 40 Kaki Bukit Industrial Terrace were also announced on Friday.

Singapore has seen 23 deaths from Covid-19 complications, while nine who tested positive have died of other causes.

THE STRAITS TIMES

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