The Ministry of Health on Thursday (21 May) announced another COVID-19 fatality, this time a 73 year-old Singaporean man who had a history of hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, and hypothyroidism. He was diagnosed on 17 April.
In a statement, the MOH said that the National Centre of Infectious Diseases has reached out to the man’s family and is extending assistance.
On the same day, the MOH also announced 448 new cases of virus, bringing the country’s total number of cases up to 29,812.
The ministry noted that 434 of these new cases are work permit holders residing in migrant worker dormitories while 14 are community cases which include 13 Singaporeans or permanent residents and one work permit holder.
Four cases of nursing home residents
Four of the new cases—29516, 29634, 29635 and 29692—are residents of the Orange Valley Nursing home, aged between 72 and 96.
Three cases involving pre-school staff
Three of the new cases work at pre-schools. Case 29691, did not go to work after developing symptoms, and MOH did not specify which pre-school she worked at. Case 29513 works at My First Skool at 303 Canberra and presented symptoms on 19 May, while Case 29514 works at PCF Sparkletots Preschool at Gambas. None of them have been linked to previous cases or clusters.
One case of staff at migrant work dormitory
Another case is a 68-year-old Singaporean man who works at the Jurong Penjuru Dormitory, identified as Case 29563. He developed symptoms on 7 May but was only confirmed with the virus on 20 May. He continued going to work at the dormitory after the onset of symptoms.
Jurong Penjuru Dormitory 1 was declared an isolation area on 19 April while Jurong Penjuru Dormitory 2 was declared an isolation area on 23 April.
One close contact of previous case
Case 29438 is a permanent resident from China. The 36-year-old man is identified as a close contact of a previous case 9009. MOH has yet to determine when he developed an onset of symptoms.
One worked at food court
Another case is a 28-year-old Singaporean man who worked at the Ng Teng Fong General Hospital food court. Identified as case 29728, MOH has yet to link him to any clusters or state when he might have developed symptoms.
Four cases linked to SMRT staff
Additionally, four of the new cases—29743, 29744, 29745 and 29764—are household contacts or family members of a previous case, Case 28271, who was the Singaporean woman who worked at the Bishan MRT station after developing symptoms.
The woman (28271) had an onset of symptoms on 14 May and had subsequently tested positive on 17 May. Despite showing symptoms, she continued going to work at the MRT station until she was tested positive. The MOH has also previously listed the woman’s case as “local unlinked”, meaning they had yet to confirm where she contracted the virus or link her to any virus clusters.
One of the cases linked to this woman is a 62-year-old man (29743) who worked at the Cochrane Lodge II dormitory, which is an identified cluster with a total of 394 confirmed cases so far. Cochrane Lodge II was declared an isolation area on 13 April. MOH did not state when the man experienced an onset of symptoms.
The three other family members include a 33-year-old male (29764), a 27-year old female (29745), and 34-year old man (29744).
All four are Singaporean citizens and were confirmed to have the virus on 20 May, according to MOH.
Given the connection to a previous case and the fact that one of them works at the migrant worker dormitory, MOH has linked cases 29743, 29744 29745 and 29764 as household contacts of Case 28271 and to the Cochrane Lodge II cluster.
