As of Sunday noon (17 May), the Ministry of Health (MOH) has preliminarily confirmed an additional 682 cases of COVID-19 infection in Singapore.
This brings the total tally of infected cases to 28,038.
There are 5 cases of community infection (4 Singaporeans/Permanent Residents, 1 Work Passes), 4 cases involving Work Permit holders residing outside dormitories and 673 cases involving Work Permit holders residing in dormitories.
There are no imported cases today.
Of the new cases, 99% are linked to known clusters, while the rest are pending contact tracing.
One new cluster identified
- 13 of the earlier confirmed cases have now been linked to form a new cluster at 9 Sungei Kadut Avenue.
Update on condition of confirmed cases
998 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 9,340 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.
There are currently 1,210 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and 16 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.
17,466 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.
22 have passed away from complications due to COVID-19 infection.
All migrant workers living in dormitories to be 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, Mr Wong told reporters at a virtual press conference that the Government will be implementing a testing strategy via mass polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests and mass serological tests.
This is part of the Government’s “systematic” approach to make sure the virus is completed cleared in dormitories, he said.
The first test that will be carried out is the serology test, which 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.
“After a period of isolation, we can assume they’ve recovered from the virus,” said Mr Wong.
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.
Mr Wong added 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.