Yahoo Finance COVID-19: 19 new cases detected in Singapore, all imported
SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed the detection of another 19 cases of COVID-19 infection in Singapore as of noon on Sunday (20 December), taking the country’s total case count to 58,422.
All the cases are imported and had been placed on Stay-Home Notice (SHN) or isolated since their arrival in Singapore, said the ministry in a press release.
Amongst the 19 imported cases, two are Singaporeans and three are permanent residents who returned from the UK and India. Another two are a work pass holder and a work permit holder currently employed in Singapore who arrived from Russia and Indonesia.
In addition, three of them are long-term visit pass holders who arrived from India, and one is a dependant’s pass holder who arrived from the UK.
Another four are short-term visit pass holders. Of these, one was already receiving medical care in Singapore and had returned for further treatment, accompanied by his caregiver. The other two are here to visit their family members who are Singaporeans or permanent residents.
The remaining four are special pass holders and crew members of a ship which arrived from Indonesia. They had remained on the ship until they were conveyed to a quarantine facility as they had been identified as close contacts of an earlier confirmed case.
Among the cases are three who were serving their SHN at the Mandarin Orchard Singapore hotel. They were detected as part of a mass testing exercise following the earlier discovery of 13 infected cases who had served their SHN at the hotel between 22 October and 11 November.
“As they have recent travel history, it is likely that these are imported and have been included in today’s case count. Nevertheless the National Public Health Laboratory will conduct whole genome sequencing and phylogenetic analysis to determine if they could be linked to the 13 cases,” said MOH.
99% of total cases have recovered
With five more patients discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities on Sunday, 58,279 cases – or 99.8 per cent of the total – have fully recovered from the infection.
Most of the 43 hospitalised cases are stable or improving, and none are in the intensive care unit.
A total of 71 patients – with mild symptoms or are clinically well but still test positive – are isolated and cared for at community facilities.
Apart from 29 patients who have died from COVID-19 complications, 15 others who tested positive for the virus were determined to have died from unrelated causes, including three whose deaths were attributed to a heart attack and another four, whose deaths were attributed to coronary heart disease.
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