As of 12 March 2020, 12 pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed and verified nine more cases of COVID-19 infection in Singapore. Of these:
- Three (Cases 179, 185 and 186) are part of the cluster involving the private dinner function at SAFRA Jurong on 15 February;
- Five are imported cases (Cases 180, 181, 182, 183 and 187); and
- One (Case 184) is linked to a previous case (Case 172).
This brings the total number of confirmed cases to 187 so far.
The World Health Organization had on 11 March 2020 declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic, in view of the rising number of cases reported around the world. Singapore has been planning ahead, and we have been progressively putting in place a suite of measures in preparation for a possible escalation of the situation, both locally and globally.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) stated that the situation in Singapore remains under control, and the authority is not changing the DORSCON level.
About the confirmed cases
Case 179
Case 179 is a 66-year-old female Singapore Citizen who had been in Malaysia on 22 February. She is currently warded in an isolation room at National University Hospital (NUH). She is a contact of Case 121 and is linked to the cluster involving the private dinner function at SAFRA Jurong.
Case 180
Case 180 is an imported case involving a 71-year-old male Singapore Citizen who had been in the US from 27 February to 10 March. He was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 12 March morning and is currently warded at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID).
Case 181
Case 181 is an imported case involving an 83-year-old male Indonesian national who had arrived in Singapore on 9 March. He was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 12 March morning and is currently warded at Gleneagles Hospital. He is a family member of Case 182.
Case 182
Case 182 is an imported case involving a 76-year-old female Indonesian national who arrived in Singapore on 9 March. She was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 12 March morning and is currently warded in an isolation room at Gleneagles Hospital. She is a family member of case 181.
Case 183
Case 183 is a 29-year-old male Singapore Citizen who had been in Malaysia from 29 February to 4 March. He was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 12 March morning and is currently warded in an isolation room at NCID. He had attended a mass religious gathering at a mosque in Malaysia, and the Malaysian authorities had subsequently reported several confirmed COVID-19 cases linked to the event.
Case 184
Case 184 is a 35-year-old male Filipino national who is a Singapore Work Pass holder and had been in the Philippines from 24 February to 1 March. He was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 12 March morning and is currently warded in an isolation room at NCID. He is linked to Case 172.
Case 185
Case 185 is a 34-year-old male Singapore Citizen who had been in Malaysia from 22 February to 23 February. He was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 12 March morning and is currently warded in an isolation room at NCID. He is linked to case 142.
Case 186
Case 186 is a 64-year-old male Singapore Citizen who has no recent travel history to affected countries and regions. He was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 12 March morning and is currently warded in an isolation room at NCID. He is linked to Case 166.
Case 187
Case 187 is a 48-year-old male Singapore Citizen who had been in Malaysia from 28 February to 2 March. He was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 12 March morning and is currently warded in an isolation room at NCID. He had attended a mass religious gathering at a mosque in Malaysia, and the Malaysian authorities had subsequently reported several confirmed COVID-19 cases linked to the event.
Case 171 (Announced on 11 March)
Case 171 is an imported case involving a 27-year-old male Singapore Citizen who had been in France from 25 February to 1 March, and Spain from 1 March to 6 March. He is currently warded in an isolation room at NCID.
Case 172 (Announced on 11 March)
Case 172 is a 42-year-old female Filipino national who is a Singapore Work Pass Holder and had been in the Philippines from 27 February to 2 March. She is currently warded in an isolation room at NCID. She is a contact of Case 184.
Case 173 (Announced on 11 March)
Case 173 is a 31-year-old male Singapore Citizen who had been in France from 15 February to 7 March. He is currently warded in an isolation room at NCID. He is a contact of Cases 165, 169 and 175, and is one of the imported cases who had been in France on official duty.
Case 174 (Announced on 11 March)
Case 174 is a 67-year-old female Singapore Citizen who has no recent travel history to affected countries and regions. She is currently warded in an isolation room at NCID. She is a contact of Case 122 and is linked to the cluster involving the private dinner function at SAFRA Jurong.
Case 175 (Announced on 11 March)
Case 175 is a 44-year-old male Singapore Citizen who had been in France from 15 February to 7 March. He is currently warded in an isolation room at NCID. He is a contact of Cases 165, 169 and 173, and is one of the imported cases who had been in France on official duty.
Case 176 (Announced on 11 March)
Case 176 is an imported case involving a 37-year-old female British national who works in Singapore and had been in Japan from 24 February to 4 March, and the UK from 4 March to 8 March. She is currently warded in an isolation room at NCID.
Case 177 (Announced on 11 March)
Case 177 is an imported case involving a 26-year-old male Singapore Citizen who had been in the US from 14 February to 24 February, the UK from 28 February to 1 March, and France from 2 March to 7 March. He is currently warded in an isolation room at NCID.
Case 178 (Announced on 11 March)
Case 178 is an imported case involving a 37-year-old male Filipino national who is a Singapore Work Pass holder. He had been in the Philippines from 11 February to 19 February, and again from 23 February to 2 March to visit a relative with pneumonia who has since passed on. He is currently warded in an isolation room at Ng Teng Fong General Hospital (NTFGH). He is a family member of Case 167.
Update on condition of confirmed cases
To date, a total of 96 cases have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from the hospital. Of the 91 confirmed cases who are still in the hospital, most are stable or improving. Nine are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.
Links between previous cases found
Further epidemiological investigations and contact tracing have uncovered links between previously announced and new cases.
a) Eight of the locally transmitted confirmed cases (Cases 31, 33, 38, 83, 90, 91, 138 and 151), as well as Cases 8 and 9, are linked to The Life Church and Missions Singapore. These cases are linked to another 23 confirmed cases (Cases 48, 49, 51, 53, 54, 57, 58, 60, 61, 62, 63, 66, 67, 68, 70, 71, 73, 74, 78, 80, 81, 84, 88) who are linked to the Grace Assembly of God.
b) Five of the confirmed cases (Cases 42, 47, 52, 56 and 69) are linked to the Seletar Aerospace Heights construction site.
c) 14 of the confirmed cases (Cases 93, 95, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 108 and 110) are linked to Wizlearn Technologies Pte Ltd.
d) 43 of the confirmed cases (Cases 94, 96, 107, 112, 114, 115, 116, 117, 118, 120, 121, 122, 125, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 133, 134, 137, 139, 140, 142, 144, 145, 146, 148, 149, 150, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 164, 166, 174, 179, 185 and 186) are linked to a private dinner function at SAFRA Jurong on 15 February.
e) Three of the confirmed cases (Cases 142, 162 and 163) are linked to boulder+ Gym (12 Kallang Avenue).
Investigations on these clusters are ongoing. In addition to the clusters, MOH’s investigations have identified the following links between cases:
- Case 72 is linked to Cases 59 and 79;
- Case 75 is linked to Case 41;
- Case 86 is linked to Case 82;
- Case 126 is linked to Case 109;
- Case 143 is linked to Case 132;
- Case 167 is linked to Case 178; and
- Case 184 is linked to Case 172.
Contact tracing is underway for the other nine locally transmitted cases to establish any links to previous cases or travel history to affected countries or regions.
Update on contact tracing for confirmed cases
Contact tracing for the confirmed cases is ongoing. Once identified, MOH will closely monitor all close contacts. As a precautionary measure, they will be quarantined for 14 days from their last exposure to the patient. In addition, all other identified contacts who have a low risk of being infected will be under active surveillance, and will be contacted daily to monitor their health status.
As of 12 March 2020, 12pm, MOH has identified 4,550 close contacts who have been quarantined. Of these, 1,248 are currently quarantined, and 3,302 have completed their quarantine.
