Almost all 23 new cases in Singapore asymptomatic; 1 dorm cluster closed

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed 23 new COVID-19 cases as of Wednesday (30 September), taking Singapore’s total case count to 57,765.

The MOH also announced the closure of the cluster at Cochrane Lodge II at 49 Admiralty Road West, as there have been no more cases linked to it for the past two incubation periods, or 28 days.

All but two of the 23 new cases are asymptomatic and were proactively detected, said the MOH.

Of them, three are cases in the community, four are imported cases and the remaining 16 cases are foreign workers living in dorms.

Overall, 13 per cent of the new cases have no established links.

Of the three community cases, two were picked up via proactive surveillance and screening, and one had already been placed on quarantine earlier, said the MOH.

One of the community cases today is linked to previous cases. Case 57911 had been identified as a contact of previously confirmed cases, and had been placed on quarantine earlier. He was tested during quarantine to determine his status.

The other two community cases are currently unlinked – one was detected via the rostered routine testing regime of workers in the construction, marine and process sectors who are living outside the dorms, while the other was detected via community testing to test all individuals aged 13 and above who are diagnosed with acute respiratory infection at first presentation to a doctor.

“Epidemiological investigations of the unlinked cases are in progress. In the meantime, all the identified close contacts of the cases have been isolated and placed on quarantine, and will be tested at the start and end of their quarantine period so that we can detect asymptomatic cases,” said the MOH.

Serological tests will also be conducted for their household contacts to determine if they could have been infected by them, the ministry added.

The ministry said the number of new cases in the community has remained stable at an average of fewer than one case per day in the past two weeks. Similarly, the number of unlinked cases in the community has also remained stable at an average of fewer than one case per day in the past two weeks.

Amongst the 16 cases residing in dorms, 10 had been identified earlier as contacts of previous cases and were tested during quarantine, said the MOH.

The remaining six cases were detected through surveillance testing.

Of Singapore’s COVID-19 tally, 54,443 – or 94.3 per cent – are foreign workers living in dorms.

99% of total cases have recovered

With 22 more patients discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities on Wednesday, 57,488 cases – or 99.5 per cent of the total – have fully recovered from the infection.

Most of the 41 hospitalised cases are stable or improving, while none is in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

A total of 209 patients with mild symptoms or are clinically well but still test positive are isolated and cared for at community facilities.

Apart from 27 patients who have died from COVID-19 complications, 15 others who tested positive for the virus were determined to have died from unrelated causes, including three whose deaths were attributed to a heart attack and another four, whose deaths were attributed to coronary heart disease.

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