COVID-19: Singapore records 618 new cases, tally at 12,693

MOH said it is still working through the details of the cases, and further updates will be shared later in the day. – Filepic/REUTERS

SINGAPORE: Singapore's Ministry of Health (MOH) today confirmed a total of 618 new cases of COVID-19 infection, bringing the tally to 12,693.

This is the second day that the number of daily new cases has fallen below 1,000, with the first recorded yesterday at 897 cases while the highest number reported in a single day was on April 20 at 1,426.

The ministry attributed the vast majority of the cases to foreign worker residing in dormitories while only seven cases are Singaporeans or Permanent Residents.

In a statement here, MOH said it is still working through the details of the cases, and further updates will be shared later in the day.

As at noon yesterday, Singapore recorded 897 new cases of COVID-19 infection with no imported cases, with 25 cases in the community while 19 involved work permit holders residing outside dormitories.

About 95 per cent of yesterday's new cases were dorm residents.

In a detailed statement issued yesterday, the MOH said it was picking up many more cases due to extensive testing.

"Most of these cases have a mild illness and are being monitored in community isolation facilities or general ward of our hospitals. None of them is in the intensive care unit," it said.

The MOH noted that of yesterday's new cases, 68 per cent are linked to known clusters, while the rest are pending contact tracing.

In the past week (April 17 to 23), the ministry said it has uncovered links for 1,132 previously unlinked cases.

Meanwhile, a total of 956 have fully recovered and have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities, 24 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit, while 12 have died.

As of yesterday, the ministry has closed the PCF Sparkletots Preschool cluster as there have been no more cases linked to it for the past two incubation periods.

Singapore has identified six more new clusters which were mostly dorms, namely Alaunia Lodge; SSKBJV Dormitory; Westlite Juniper; Natureland East Coast; Strand Hotel; 112, Neythal Road; 10, Shaw Road; 2, Sungei Kadut Avenue; and 11, Tuas Avenue 10.

Singapore's largest cluster, S11 Dormitory @ Punggol has so far a total of 2,263 confirmed cases.

From yesterday's tally of 12,075, Singapore classified 9,929 of them as dorm residents, while 451 involving work permit holders not residing in dorms, 1,126 community cases and another 569 were imported cases.

— BERNAMA