Safe distancing ambassador, five school children among 34 new Covid-19 community cases

[SINGAPORE] A safe distancing ambassador (SDA) working at Westgate, a basic care assistant at Alexandra Hospital and two preschool teachers were among the 34 new Covid-19 cases reported on Wednesday (May 19).

Three prison inmates and five school children also tested positive.

Four of the new cases are currently unlinked.

These include the SDA, who is a 45-year-old man who is fully vaccinated against the virus, and the Alexandra Hospital staff, a 24-year-old woman.

The remaining 30 have been linked to previous cases. Among them, 28 had already been quarantined, said the Ministry of Health on Wednesday (May 19).

These include the two preschool teachers. The first is a 33-year-old woman who works at My First Skool in Bukit Panjang, who had received one dose of the vaccine.

Her infection has been linked to that of a 45-year-old deliveryman at Fairfield Book Publishers whose infection was also reported on Tuesday.

The second is a 36-year-old teacher at Safari House in Lakeside. Her infection has been linked to that of a 64-year-old unemployed woman who was confirmed to have Covid-19 infection on May 15.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has increased from 49 in the week before to 187 cases in the past week, while the number of unlinked cases in the community has gone up from nine cases the week before to 49 cases in the same period.

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.

THE STRAITS TIMES