Coronavirus: Jewel and Orchard Road malls among places visited by Covid-19 patients while they were infectious

Coronavirus: Jewel and Orchard Road malls among places visited by Covid-19 patients while they were infectious
Jewel Changi Airport and Lucky Plaza are among the places visited by Covid-19 patients while they were still infectious.
PHOTO: The Straits Times

SINGAPORE - Malls in Orchard Road, including Lucky Plaza, Plaza Singapura, Ion Orchard and Tang Plaza, as well as Jewel Changi Airport are among the places visited by Covid-19 patients while they were still infectious, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Monday (July 6).

More than 20 new locations and time slots visited by patients were added to the list on Monday.

The ministry provides the list of locations and times that Covid-19 patients have visited for at least 30 minutes on its website. Those who were at these places should monitor their health closely for two weeks from the date of their visit.

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

Infections in the community have increased, with 23 new cases announced on Monday. They comprise three Singaporeans, one work pass holder and 19 work permit holders.

Of the community cases, 18 had been picked up as a result of MOH's proactive surveillance and screening, and three had already been placed on quarantine earlier.

A total of 17 of the community cases are linked to previous cases or clusters. Of these, 13 had been detected as part of proactive screening of workers in essential services or those working in dormitories, and they are all asymptomatic.

Among the 13, seven are migrant workers who live together in temporary accommodation arranged by their company. MOH said it is conducting further tests to determine if they have current or past infections.

Another three were identified as contacts of previously confirmed patients, and had been tested during their quarantine. Investigations are being done for the remaining case, who is linked to the Aspri-Westlite Papan dormitory.

Six of the community cases are currently unlinked. Of these, five were tested as they work in essential services, and are asymptomatic.

[[nid:485108]]

The remaining case was tested under MOH's enhanced community testing to test all people aged 13 and above who are diagnosed with acute respiratory infection when they first visit a doctor.

This allows the ministry to detect infected individuals early and to quickly contain further spread, MOH said.

The three imported Covid-19 cases on Monday comprise two Singaporeans who returned from Yemen on June 24 and India on June 23. The remaining case is a Filipino work pass holder who returned from the Philippines on June 24.

All of them had been placed on 14-day stay-home notices when they arrived in Singapore, and had been tested while serving their notices.

Migrant workers living in dormitories make up the remaining 157 cases, taking Singapore's total to 44,983.

MOH also announced a new coronavirus cluster at Micron Semiconductor Asia at 1 North Coast Drive.

The average number of new daily cases in the community has increased to 12 per day in the past week, from an average of seven cases per day in the week before that.

The number of unlinked cases in the community during a week has also increased to a daily average of five from four over the same period.

With 276 cases discharged on Monday, 40,705 patients have fully recovered from the disease.

A total of 208 patients remain in hospital, including two in the intensive care unit, while 4,032 are recuperating in community facilities.

Singapore has had 26 deaths from Covid-19 complications, while 12 who tested positive have died of other causes.

For the latest updates on the coronavirus, visit here.

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

This website is best viewed using the latest versions of web browsers.