SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health on Saturday (11 April) confirmed an additional 191 cases of COVID-19 infection in Singapore, as well as an 8th fatality from the disease.

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Singapore has now seen a total of 2,299 cases of the coronavirus.

Among the linked cases, 51 cases were linked to clusters at foreign worker dormitories and 21 were linked to non-dormitory clusters or other cases.

Contact tracing and investigation are underway for currently unlinked cases to establish any links to known clusters or previous cases. In the past week (4 April to 10 April), MOH has uncovered links for 168 previously unlinked cases.

To date, a total of 528 cases have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities.

Of the 943 confirmed cases who are still in hospital, most are stable or improving. 31 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit. 820 cases who are clinically well but still test positive for COVID-19 are isolated and cared for at community facilities.

Eight have died from complications due to the coronavirus.

8th fatality

Case 1142, a 90-year-old male Singapore citizen, died on Saturday morning. He was confirmed to have COVID-19 infection on 3 April and was admitted to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) on the same day.

NCID has reached out to his family and is extending assistance to them.

Three new clusters

Three new clusters have also emerged at Westlite Woodlands dormitory (2 Woodlands Sector 2), North Coast Lodge (51 North Coast Avenue) and Cassia @ Penjuru (15 Penjuru Walk). This means that a total of 11 foreign worker dormitories have seen infection clusters.

Further epidemiological investigations and contact tracing have uncovered links between previously announced and new cases.

Eight of the earlier confirmed cases (Cases 1399, 1921, 1721, 2008, 2047, 2075, 2083 and 2089) have now been linked to a new cluster at Westlite Woodlands dormitory.

Two of the newly confirmed cases (Cases 2262 and 2263) are linked to four previous cases (Cases 1429, 1464, 2080 and 2081), forming a new cluster at North Coast Lodge.

Two of the newly confirmed cases (Cases 2151 and 2170) are linked to three previous cases (Cases 1636, 1651 and 1739), forming a new cluster at Cassia @ Penjuru.

29 additional cases are linked to the cluster at S11 Dormitory @ Punggol (2 Seletar North Link), which has a total of 335 confirmed cases2 now.

Six additional cases are linked to the cluster at Toh Guan Dormitory (19A Toh Guan Road East), which has a total of 40 confirmed cases now (Cases 963, 1079, 1106, 1148, 1150, 1195, 1254, 1273, 1262, 1263, 1271, 1274, 1276, 1347, 1395, 1453, 1469, 1475, 1374, 1434, 1446, 1582, 1599, 1627, 1841, 1916, 1918, 1969, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1985, 2108, 2149, 2150, 2153, 2155 and 2166).

Eight additional cases are linked to the cluster at Sungei Tengah Lodge (500 Old Choa Chu Kang Road), which has a total of 63 confirmed cases now.

One additional case is linked to the cluster at Tampines Dormitory (2 Tampines Place), which has a total of 50 cases now.

Two additional cases are linked to the cluster at Kranji Lodge (12 Kranji Road), which has a total of nine confirmed cases now (Cases 880, 1190, 1241, 1506, 1519, 1520, 1630, 2141 and 2246).

Seven additional cases are linked to the cluster at Cochrane Lodge I (51 Admiralty Road West), which has a total of 22 cases now (Cases 1018, 1144, 1339, 1394, 1406, 1418, 1419, 1437, 1645, 1655, 1722, 1938, 2057, 2065, 2070, 2082, 2090, 2100, 2111, 2120, 2147 and 2204).

Four additional cases are linked to the cluster at Cochrane Lodge II (49 Admiralty Road West), which has a total of 11 cases now (Cases 956, 967, 1104, 1240, 1349, 1640, 2093, 2132, 2140, 2249 and 2296).

Two additional cases are linked to the cluster at Shaw Lodge (12 Shaw Road), which has a total of eight confirmed cases now (Cases 1379, 1380, 1556, 1558, 1564, 1728, 1926 and 2113).

Three additional cases are linked to the cluster at 31 Sungei Kadut Avenue and 21B Senoko Loop, which has a total of seven cases now (Cases 1731, 1735, 1830, 1831, 1549, 2209 and 2277).

One additional case is linked to the cluster at a construction site at Project Glory (50 Market Street), which has a total of 42 confirmed cases now (Cases 956, 967, 1019, 1078, 1079, 1104, 1120, 1124, 1149, 1162, 1164, 1181, 1191, 1226, 1263, 1271, 1273, 1341, 1346, 1349, 1421, 1448, 1449, 1485, 1486, 1514,1531, 1555, 1575, 1576, 1577, 1629, 1642, 1652, 1692, 1694, 1715, 1957, 1975, 1992, 2050 and 2058).

Four additional cases are linked to the cluster at the renovation sites at the National University Hospital (5 Lower Kent Ridge Road), which has a total of 18 confirmed cases now (Cases 1146, 1478, 1563, 1665, 1724, 1725, 1834, 1837, 1838, 1912, 1913, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2048, 2051, 2053 and 2073).

14 additional cases are linked to the cluster at Mustafa Centre (145 Syed Alwi Road), which has a total of 78 confirmed cases now.

As of Saturday, 12pm, MOH has identified 26,189 close contacts who have been quarantined. Of these, 10,757 are currently quarantined, and 15,432 have completed their quarantine.

Measures to combat spread of coronavirus

On Tuesday, the government passed the COVID-19 Temporary Measures Bill in Parliament, giving it the legal basis to enforce the enhanced safe distancing measures that began on the same day and will last till 4 May.

Part of these “circuit breaker” measures – announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong last Friday – include the closure of schools and most workplaces. Lee also said that Singapore will no longer discourage the public from wearing face masks.

Only essential services like food establishments, markets and supermarkets, transport, and key banking services will remain open during the month-long closure.

In a Good Friday address, Lee appealed to Singaporeans to stay home, as COVID-19 cases continue to rise in foreign worker dormitories as well as in the general population.

Separately, all Singapore residents and long-term pass holders returning from overseas apart from Hubei province must serve the 14-day stay-home notice, while those returning from Hubei must serve a 14-day quarantine. All short-term visitors are barred from entering or transiting via Singapore.

Anyone who flouts the 14-day stay-home notice by leaving the place of accommodation or residence they are serving the notice in will be subjected to steep penalties.

Patients who flout their five-day medical leave can face steep penalties such as a fine of up to $10,000 or a maximum jail term of six months, or both, according to the Infectious Diseases Act.

The same penalties also apply to those who intentionally sit on a seat or stand in a queue less than one metre away from another person in public venues.

Those on five-day sick leave or serving a stay-home notice must also wear a mask if they have to leave their place of accommodation to seek emergency medical treatment.

On Monday, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat announced an additional $5.1 billion Solidarity Budget to help businesses and households.

The government’s response to COVID-19 will total $59.9 billion, or about 12 per cent of Singapore’s gross domestic product.