Six new Covid-19 cases in Singapore, all imported

[SINGAPORE] There were six new coronavirus cases confirmed on Tuesday (Nov 17), all of them imported.

The imported cases had been placed on stay-home notices on arrival in Singapore, said the Ministry of Health (MOH).

It was the seventh day without local transmission, the longest such period since a 12-day streak from Jan 23 to Feb 3.

Of the remaining two, one is a dependant's pass holder who came from the United Kingdom and the other a long-term visit pass holder who arrived from the Philippines. They were also asymptomatic when tested.

MOH said all close contacts of the imported cases have been isolated and they will be tested at the start and end of their quarantine period to detect asymptomatic cases.

The ministry added that the number of new cases in the community has remained low, with no new cases in the past week.

With six cases discharged on Tuesday, 58,024 patients have recovered from the disease.

There were 37 patients still in hospital, and 26 in community facilities. None was in intensive care.

Singapore has had 28 deaths from Covid-19 complications, and 15 who tested positive have died of other causes.

Globally, the virus outbreak that began in December last year has infected more than 54.8 million people.

More than 1.32 million people have died.

THE STRAITS TIMES