Eight new Covid-19 cases in Singapore, none in the community

[SINGAPORE] There were eight new coronavirus cases confirmed as of Friday noon, taking Singapore's total to 58,305.

These included seven imported cases who had been placed on stay-home notices or isolated on arrival in Singapore, said the Ministry of Health (MOH).

There was one new case from a worker's dormitory and none from the community.

On Thursday, the police said that 53 people were charged in court on Wednesday with breaching safe distancing measures meant to limit the spread of Covid-19.

The 34 men and 19 women, aged between 20 and 75, were charged under the Covid-19 (Temporary Measures) Act.

The largest gathering involved 26 people who were allegedly gambling inside a unit in Geylang Road. They were caught during an anti-crime operation by the police on Dec 1.

Meanwhile, two Singaporean teenagers were among the six new coronavirus cases announced on Thursday, all of which were imported, said MOH.

The Singaporean girls, aged 18 and 19, had returned from Britain and were asymptomatic.

All the six imported cases were placed on stay-home notice on arrival in Singapore.

Besides the two teens, the other imported cases were two other Singaporeans, a permanent resident and a dependant's pass holder.

One of the Singaporeans, a 33-year-old man who arrived from Indonesia, was symptomatic on Monday.

The permanent resident, a 54-year-old man, arrived from Pakistan and started having symptoms on Sunday.

The remaining two cases were asymptomatic and were detected through proactive screening and surveillance, MOH said.

One was a 47-year-old Singaporean man who returned from the United States, and the other was a 21-year-old Russian dependant's pass holder who arrived from Russia.

All the cases were tested while serving their stay-home notices at dedicated facilities.

MOH said the number of new cases in the community has remained low, with a total of one case in the past week that was linked to a previous case.

With six cases discharged on Thursday, 58,173 patients have fully recovered from Covid-19.

A total of 20 patients were in hospital, with none in the intensive care unit, while 60 patients were recuperating in community facilities.

Singapore has had 29 deaths from Covid-19 complications, while 15 who tested positive have died of other causes.

Globally, the virus outbreak, which began in December last year, has infected more than 68.8 million people. More than 1.57 million people have died.

THE STRAITS TIMES