As of Friday noon (15 May), the Ministry of Health (MOH) has preliminarily confirmed an additional 793 cases of COVID-19 infection in Singapore.
This brings the total tally of infected cases to 26,891.
There is only one case of community infection, which is a Singaporeans/Permanent Residents. 791 cases involving Work Permit holders residing in dormitories and only one case involving Work Permit holders residing outside dormitories recorded today.
There are no imported cases today.
Of the new cases, 99% are linked to known clusters, while the rest are pending contact tracing.
Five new cluster identified
- Eight of the newly confirmed cases are linked to five previous cases to form a new cluster at 80 Kaki Bukit Industrial Terrace.
- Two of the newly confirmed cases are linked to five previous cases to form a new cluster at 48 Toh Guan Road East.
- 17 of the newly confirmed cases are linked to one previous case to form a new cluster at 55 Tuas South Ave 1.
- Five of the earlier confirmed cases have now been linked to form a new cluster at 119 Tuas View Walk 1.
- 19 of the newly confirmed cases are linked to five previous cases to form a new cluster at 33 Tuas View Walk 2.
Update on condition of confirmed cases
1,275 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 7,248 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.
There are currently 1,124 confirmed cases who are still in the hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and 18 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.
18,498 are isolated and cared for at community facilities. These are those who have mild symptoms or are clinically well but still test positive for COVID-19.
21 have passed away from complications due to COVID-19 infection.
Migrant workers in dormitories to be all tested
National Development Minister Lawrence Wong earlier announced on Tuesday (12 May) that all 323,000 migrant workers staying in dormitories will be tested for the highly contagious COVID-19 in order to be certain that they are virus-free before they return to their dormitories and resume work after the circuit break period ends on 1 June.
Explaining how this will be done to reporters at a virtual press conference, Mr Wong said that the Government will be implementing a testing strategy via mass polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests and mass serological tests. He added that this is part of the Government’s “systematic” approach to make sure the virus is completed cleared in dormitories.
The first test that will be carried out is the serology test and it will be conducted at dormitories with high infection rates. The test will detect the presence of antibodies to the virus in a person’s bloodstream, indicating that they have been infected with the virus in the past and have recovered. Antibodies may also suggest that the individual is now immune to the virus.
Mr Wong said, “After a period of isolation, we can assume they’ve recovered from the virus.”
However, those who have been tested negative for serology tests will have to undergo a PCR test to detect the presence of an infection. He noted that about 3,000 of these tests are being done each day in migrant worker dormitories and that testing will be ramped up in the next few weeks. PCR tests will be conducted at other dorms with lower infection rates as well.
The Minister added that PCR tests will either be done individually or in batches, meaning in pooled testing.