COVID-19: 513 new cases in Singapore, majority at dorm

Singapore has preliminarily confirmed an additional 513 cases of COVID-19 infection in Singapore, with the vast majority still being foreign workers staying in dormitories, according to brief noon data released here today.

With the new figures, the total infection tally for the republic now stands at 49,888 cases.

Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) said based on its investigations so far, there were two cases in the community, both of whom are work pass holders.

In addition, MOH said there were six imported cases, who have been placed on Stay-Home Notice upon arrival in Singapore.

The ministry said the inter-agency taskforce is on track to clear all the dormitories by the beginning of August, with the exception of 17 standalone blocks in eight purpose-built dormitories, which serve as quarantine facilities for 28,000 workers still serving out their isolation period.

"This last batch of workers come from dormitories with a relatively high prevalence of COVID-19, and will be subject to a final test before they complete their isolation periods.

"We therefore expect the daily case counts to be high for the coming two weeks, before tapering down thereafter," explained the ministry.

In its full data released late yesterday, Singapore classified 661 of its cases as imported, 2,158 as community cases and 46,556 as dorm residents.

In all, 45,172 or about 92 per cent of the total cases have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.

As of noon yesterday, there were 157 confirmed cases still in hospital.

Of these, most were stable or improving and no cases were in the intensive care unit.

A total of 4,019 patients who had symptoms or were clinically well but still tested positive for COVID-19 have been isolated and are being cared for at community facilities.

To date, 27 people have died from complications due to COVID-19 here.

Only one new cluster was identified yesterday at the Bukit Panjang Integrated Transport Hub of Petir Road.

-- BERNAMA