560 of 573 new coronavirus cases in Singapore are foreign workers from dorms; 3 new clusters

[SINGAPORE] Foreign workers living in dormitories made up 560 of the 573 new coronavirus cases on Monday (May 4).

This is the 11th successive day where new daily cases are below 1,000.

Foreign workers not staying in dorms made up eight of the new cases.

Among the other new community cases, five were Singaporeans and permanent residents, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) in a daily update.

There were no imported cases.

MOH also announced three new clusters linked to Hai Leck Engineering Pte Ltd in Tuas, Melody Springs construction site in Yishun, and 6 Tuas Basin Link.

This brings the total number of coronavirus cases in Singapore to 18,778.

The ministry said that the number of new cases in the community - excluding foreign workers not from dorms, but including Singaporeans and PRs - has decreased, from an average of 20 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 9 per day in the past week.

The number of unlinked cases in the community has also fallen, from an average of 12 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 4 per day in the past week.

Meanwhile, the number of new cases among work permit holders residing outside dormitories has dropped, from an average of 22 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 13 per day in the past week.

Another two cluster were also closed by MOH - the Little Gems Pre-school cluster in Ang Mo Kio, and the dormitory cluster at 55 Sungei Kadut Loop. The ministry said on Monday that this is because no more cases have been linked to the two clusters for the past two incubation periods, or 28 days.

The ministry also gave updates on three coronavirus cases from the public healthcare sector.

One is a 33-year-old Singaporean facilities manager at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID). She had no recent travel history to affected countries or regions, and was confirmed to have Covid-19 infection on Sunday.

She was warded at Tan Tock Seng Hospital and before hospital admission, she had gone to work at NCID.

The second case is a 32-year-old Singaporean doctor who worked at Changi General Hospital (CGH). She had no recent travel history to affected countries or regions, and was confirmed to have Covid-19 infection on Sunday.

She was warded at CGH and before she was admitted, she had been at work for a few hours.

The third case is a 52-year-old Singaporean healthcare volunteer at the community care facility at Singapore Expo. She had no recent travel history to affected countries or regions.

She was confirmed to have Covid-19 infection on Monday, and was warded at NCID. Before hospital admission, she had gone to work at the Expo.

MOH also said on Monday that 49 more patients have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. This means 1,452 people have fully recovered from the infection.

There are still 1,491 coronavirus patients in hospital. While most are stable or improving, 25 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

Another 15,812 people who have mild symptoms, or are clinically well but still test positive for Covid-19, are isolated and cared for at community facilities.

Eighteen people have died from complications due to Covid-19 infection, and five more with the virus have died from other causes not related to the infection.

Globally, the outbreak, which began in December last year, has infected about 3.5 million people. About a quarter of a million people have died.

The United States is the worst affected country in the world with more than 1.1 million cases and 66,000 deaths from Covid-19 as of Monday.

THE STRAITS TIMES