34 new Covid-19 community cases in Singapore, with four unlinked

[SINGAPORE] There were 38 new Covid-19 cases, including 34 in the community, as at noon on Wednesday (May 19), said the Ministry of Health (MOH).

Of the community cases, four are currently unlinked.

The remaining 30 are linked to previous cases. Among them, 28 had already been quarantined.

There were also four imported cases who had been placed on stay-home notice on arrival in Singapore, said the ministry.

Of these, three are returning Singaporeans or permanent residents.

There were no new cases in the workers' dormitories.

The new cases take Singapore's total to 61,689.

On Tuesday, 38 coronavirus cases were reported, including 27 cases in the community.

Among the 11 unlinked community cases were a Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) staff and a clinic assistant at Dorothy's Baby & Child Clinic in Bukit Timah Plaza.

Three of the community cases, including the MHA employee, had preliminarily tested positive for the B1617 variant first detected in India.

On Tuesday, MOH also identified four new clusters with three cases each.

Separately, epidemiological investigations connected six previously reported cases to the Changi Airport cluster.

They comprised a group of five patients linked to an operating theatre nurse at Sengkang General Hospital and a 47-year-old housewife who was announced to have the virus on May 13.

These findings took the total number of active clusters as at Tuesday to 19.

Globally, the virus outbreak, which began in December 2019, has infected more than 164 million people. Over 3.40 million people have died.

THE STRAITS TIMES