Covid-19: Pre-school staff and dormitory worker among 548 new cases on Sunday

[UPDATE 10.50 PM]

A total of 548 new coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Singapore today (May 24).

In a statement by the Ministry of Health (MOH), they announced that there are four community cases while the remaining cases come from Work Permit holders living in dormitories.

Of the four community cases, three are Singaporeans/Permanent Residents while one is a Work Permit holder.

Among the new community cases is a 33-year-old Singaporean female who works at Iman Childcare (Tampines). She was confirmed to have Covid-19 on May 23.

There is also a 55-year-old Singaporean male who works at SSKBJV Dormitory and he went to work as well after onset of symptoms on May 17.

The number of new cases in the community has increased, from an average of five cases per day in the week before to an average of six per day in the past week. This is partly due to the active surveillance and screening of nursing home residents and pre-school staff, which have picked up more cases in the past week.

The number of unlinked cases in the community has remained stable at an average of two per day in the past two weeks.

MOH continues to pick up more cases among Work Permit holders residing in dormitories, including in factory-converted dormitories, because of extensive testing in these premises, as part of their process to verify and test the status of all workers.

99 per cent of the new cases are linked to known clusters, while the rest are pending contact tracing.

MOH announced the closure of the cluster at Strand Hotel (25 Bencoolen Street) because there have been no more cases linked to it for the past 28 days.

Of the 690 cases who are still in the hospital, most are stable and improving. 8 are in critical condition, while 16,027 cases who are clinically well but still test positive for Covid-19 are isolated and cared for at community facilities.

MOH also announced that 994 more cases of Covid-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 14,876 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.

This brings the total number of cases to 31,616, with 14,876 patients discharged and 23 deaths.

For the latest updates on the coronavirus, visit here.

bryanlim@asiaone.com