SINGAPORE - There were 16 cases of Covid-19 infection confirmed on Wednesday (May 12), 10 of which are community cases and the other six imported ones.
Of the community cases, seven are linked to the Changi Airport cluster. This brings the total number of patients in the cluster to 25, forming the second-largest active cluster after the one at Tan Tock Seng Hospital which has 44 cases.
Members of the public who had visited Changi Airport Terminal 3 since May 3 will be offered free Covid-19 testing, MOH said on Wednesday night.
"MOH will progressively inform these individuals via SMS notification with information on how to book an appointment for their test," it added.
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The sole unlinked case is another hospital worker - this time at Sengkang General Hospital.
He is a 33-year-old operating theatre nurse who had received both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine. He has preliminarily tested positive for the B1617 variant of the virus first identified in India.
Three of the seven new cases linked to the Changi Airport cluster have also preliminarily tested positive for the B1617 variant.
They are a 39-year-old man and a 38-year-old woman, who both work as Immigration and Checkpoints Authority officers at Terminal 3, and a 65-year-old cleaner employed by Ramky Cleantech Services, also working in Terminal 3.
Five of the seven are fully vaccinated.
The remaining cases comprise another cleaner - a 62-year-old - also employed by Ramky CleanTech Services, a 24-year-old employed by Huawei Enterprise as an IT engineer at Terminal 4, a 28-year-old employed by Certis Cisco at Terminal 3 and a 42-year-old sales associate at a retail store at Terminal 3. They are all men.
The other two community cases were linked to other clusters.
The first is a 36-year-old Vietnamese woman who is a short-term visit pass holder. She is a household contact of the Grab driver who was confirmed to have Covid-19 last Saturday - prompting the designation of a new cluster.
This brings Singapore’s total number of active clusters to 12.
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The last community case is a 64-year-old Singaporean woman who had been warded at Tan Tock Seng Hospital's Ward 9D. Her Covid-19 test on Tuesday while under quarantine returned positive. She had previously tested negative on April 26, April 28 and April 30.
MOH said the six imported cases had been placed on stay-home notice.
The new cases take Singapore's total tally to 61,419.
The number of new cases in the community has decreased from 62 cases two weeks ago to 49 in the past week.
However, the number of unlinked cases in the community in a week has increased from seven cases to 12 over the same period.
With 31 cases discharged on Wednesday, 60,991 patients have fully recovered from the disease.
A total of 143 patients remain in hospital, including three in critical condition in the intensive care unit, while 239 are recuperating in community facilities.
Singapore has had 31 deaths from Covid-19 complications, while 15 who tested positive have died of other causes.
This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.