169 new Covid-19 patients in Singapore, including 11 in the community

[SINGAPORE] There are 169 new coronavirus patients confirmed as of Friday noon, taking Singapore's total to 44,479.

They include 11 community cases, comprising three Singaporeans or permanent residents and eight work pass holders, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Friday.

There are also three imported cases who were placed on stay-home notice after arriving in Singapore.

Migrant workers living in dormitories make up the vast majority of the other cases.

More details will be announced on Friday night.

On Thursday, MOH announced that West Mall, Paya Lebar Square and IMM were added as locations visited by Covid-19 patients.

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A patient also visited Fu Chan Coffee Shop at Block 145 Teck Whye Avenue while infectious.

The ministry advised those who were at these places to monitor their health closely for two weeks from the date of their visit.

The full list of locations and the times that the patients were there can be found on MOH's website.

MOH also said on Thursday that a Filipino national who returned from Britain on June 20 tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday, while she was serving her stay-home notice.

The 36-year-old work pass holder was among 188 new coronavirus cases confirmed by the ministry on Thursday.

Of the new cases then, 10 were from the community, comprising seven Singaporeans, one permanent resident and two work permit holders.

Two of the Singaporeans and the permanent resident were identified as contacts of previously confirmed cases and were quarantined earlier.

Another three cases were detected by MOH's proactive surveillance of people deployed to frontline Covid-19 operations, even though they are asymptomatic.

Epidemiological investigations are being done for the remaining two Singaporean patients.

The two work permit holders had been identified as contacts of previously confirmed cases, and had already been quarantined.

Migrant workers staying in dormitories made up the remaining 177 new cases on Thursday.

The MOH also announced two new clusters in dormitories at 7 Gambas Crescent and 17 Tuas View Close.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has increased to an average of nine per day in the past week, from an average of four cases per day in the week before that.

The number of unlinked cases in the community has also increased to an average of four per day in the past week, from an average of two cases per day in the week before.

Singapore has had 26 deaths from Covid-19 complications, while 12 who tested positive have died of other causes.

Globally the virus outbreak, which began in December last year, has infected more than 10.9 million people. More than 523,000 people have died.

THE STRAITS TIMES