Daily brief: Covid-19 update for May 10, 2020

Correction: The Ministry of Health (MOH), in an email, clarified that there were 33 cases from a laboratory that were false positive, which included 9 workers residing at the dormitory at 45 Kaki Bukit Place. They added that as of May 11, there is only 1 confirmed case from the dormitory at 45 Kakit Bukit Place and hence, the dormitory is not classified as a cluster.

The MOH added that the false positives were due to an apparatus calibration issue for one of their test kits. Subsequent retesting at the National Public Health Laboratory confirmed that these were negative cases. In their statement, the MOH added that it has taken immediate actions to rectify the situation.

Singapore – A total of 753 new Covid-19 cases were reported on Saturday (May 9), said the Ministry of Health (MOH) in their latest update. Singapore now has a total of 22,460 cases with 20 reported deaths.

Of the 753 new cases, 739 belong to work permit holders residing in foreign worker dormitories. Another three belong to the same status but live outside dormitories.

Out of the remaining cases, 11 come from the local community, nine of which are Singaporeans and permanent residents and another two possess work passes.

According to the MOH, there has been a decrease in new cases within the community, which had an average of 12 new cases per day to an average of 10 per day last week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also decreased, from an average of five cases per day to four cases per day in the past week.

Local clusters

In the latest MOH update, nine new clusters were identified: 3 Buroh Lane (10 cases), 9 Defu South Street 1 (five cases), 44 Kaki Bukit Industrial Terrace (six cases), 45 Kaki Bukit Place (10 cases), 20 Kranji Road (three cases), 2 Pioneer Sector Walk (21 cases), 69 Tuas South Avenue 1 (five cases), 3 Tuas View Circuit (two cases) and 212 Woodlands Industrial Park E5 (25 cases).

Clusters linked to dormitories

There is a continued increase of cases among Work Permit holders residing in dormitories, including factory-converted dormitories due to the extensive testing being conducted, said the MOH.

Of the cases linked to dormitories, the S11 Dormitory at Punggol remains the largest with 2,545 confirmed cases to date.

No imported cases were reported on Saturday while the total of recovered patients went up to 2,296 as 256 have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. Twenty-three patients remain in critical condition.