248 new Covid-19 cases in Singapore, including 11 in the community and 4 imported

SINGAPORE - There were 248 new coronavirus cases confirmed as of Thursday noon (July 16), taking Singapore's total to 47,126.

They include 11 community cases and comprise two Singaporeans or permanent residents, seven work pass holders and two dependant pass holders, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Thursday.

Epidemiological investigations are being done for the other cases.

There were also four imported cases who had been placed on stay-home notice upon arrival in Singapore.

Migrant workers living in dormitories make up the vast majority of the other cases.

More details will be announced on Thursday night.

On Wednesday, MOH announced that Apple Orchard Road was among the new places visited by Covid-19 patients while they were still infectious.

Tekka Centre and Bugis+ were also new additions to the list of places visited by infectious patients.

Other places added were Tat Fong Paint at 492 Geylang Road, Singapore Pools outlet Cheng Chew Wah at 20 Frankel Terrace and All India Supermart at 41 Norris Road.

The ministry provides a list of locations and times that infectious Covid-19 patients have visited for at least 30 minutes to get those who were at these places during those specific periods to monitor their health closely for two weeks from the date of their visit.

The full list of locations and times can be found on MOH's website.

MOH has said that close contacts would already have been notified and there is no need to avoid these places as they would have been cleaned if needed.

The ministry said on Wednesday that the average number of new daily cases in the community in a week has decreased from 14 cases two weeks ago to 13 in the past week.

However, the number of unlinked cases in the community in a week has increased from the daily average of six cases to eight over the same period.

With 251 cases discharged on Wednesday, 42,974 patients have fully recovered from the disease.

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A total of 159 patients remain in hospital and 3,704 are recuperating in community facilities.

There were no patients in intensive care for the second day in a row on Wednesday.

Before Tuesday, the last time there were no patients in intensive care was on Feb 5, after which more people were admitted.

The number of patients in intensive care peaked at 32 on April 10, before coming down to one on July 7.

Singapore has had 27 deaths from Covid-19 complications, while 14 who tested positive have died of other causes.

Globally, the virus outbreak, which began in December last year, has infected more than 13.4 million people. More than 582,000 people have died.

For the latest updates on the coronavirus, visit here.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction