2 new Covid-19 clusters in S’pore, highest reported new cases since Jan 30

Singapore – Two new Covid-19 clusters were identified in Singapore on Friday (May 14), one linked to a tuition centre tutor and another to a Sengkang General Hospital (SGH) nurse.

The Ministry of Health reported in its daily Covid-19 update two new clusters. Five of the 24 new community cases reported were linked to a 50-year-old Singaporean woman who works as a tutor at Learning Point tuition centre at Parkway Centre.

Five other children aged seven to nine years old who were students and identified as close contacts of the tutor were also reported as new cases.

They were students from Kong Hwa School, St Stephen’s School and St Andrew’s Junior School. Some of the schools have issued notices of home-based learning due to the detection of the cases.

The five children were placed in quarantine on May 12. MOH noted that all developed symptoms of infection.

During a Multi-Ministry Task Force for Covid-19 press conference, Education Minister Lawrence Wong said that all infections of school-going children have happened outside of schools.

“We have a series of very tight measures to pick up and to detect and to ring-fence our school system,” he noted.

“Up to now, there is no evidence of transmission within the school system.”

Mr Wong also announced that teachers would no longer be allowed to wear face shields in place of surgical masks while teaching.

Another cluster with three cases to date was identified after a new Covid-19 case was linked to a previous infection.

A 39-year-old Filipino man working at Unity Pharmacy was a household contact of a 33-year-old Filipino man who works as an operating theatre nurse at SGH.

The newly confirmed case was placed on quarantine on May 11. He is asymptomatic and detected through testing on May 13.

It was reported that he had received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine on Feb 23 and the second dose on Mar 22.

“Overall, the number of new cases in the community has increased from 43 cases in the week before to 91 cases in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has increased from 9 cases in the week before to 16 cases in the past week,” said MOH.

Among the 194 confirmed cases reported from May 8 to May 14, 66 cases have tested positive for their serology tests, 88 have tested negative, and another 40 are pending.

Singapore reported a total of 52 new cases on Friday, the highest since Jan 30. A total of 24 were in the community, and 28 are imported./TISG

Read related: ‘Just lockdown lah’: response to stricter dining in and social gathering safety measures

‘Just lockdown lah’: response to stricter dining in and social gathering safety measures