SINGAPORE: Singapore confirmed 1,037 new cases of COVID-19 as of noon on Thursday (Apr 23), taking the national total to 11,178.



This is the fourth day in a row that Singapore has reported a daily increase of more than 1,000 cases.



The vast majority of the new cases are work permit holders residing in foreign worker dormitories, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in its preliminary release of figures.

A total of 982 of Thursday's cases were linked to work permit holders residing in dormitories, MOH later confirmed in a later update.



"The main increase today continues to be for work permit holders residing in dormitories, where we are picking up many more cases because of extensive testing.



"Most of these cases have a mild illness and are being monitored in the community isolation facilities or general ward of our hospitals. None of them is in the intensive care unit," MOH said.

Another 30 were linked to work permit holders staying outside of dormitories.



MOH said: "The number of new cases among work permit holders residing outside dormitories has continued to increase, from an average of 16 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 30 per day in the past week."



Twenty-two of the new cases are Singaporeans or permanent residents, and three are work pass holders, an increase from yesterday's figures.

"The number of new cases in the community has decreased, from an average of 34 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 25 per day in the past week.

"The number of unlinked cases in the community has decreased slightly, from an average of 20 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 18 per day in the past week," MOH shared.



Of the new cases, 75 per cent are linked to known clusters, while the rest are pending contact tracing.



One of Thursday's cases is a 33-year-old staff member who works at Thye Hua Kwan Moral Charities, the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC) said.

"He is based out of Thye Hua Kwan Moral Charities' office premises and provides home personal care services to home-bound clients at their homes," AIC said, adding he had last been to work on Apr 20, two days before he was confirmed to have COVID-19.

He is now warded at Singapore General Hospital.



"Thye Hua Kwan Moral Charities has put in place additional precautionary measures in consultation with MOH and AIC," they agency said. This includes a thorough cleaning and disinfection of the office premises and equipment that the staff may have used.



"Contact tracing is ongoing and those who had close contact with the staff will be quarantined."

There were no imported cases reported on Thursday.

The full details of Thursday's reported COVID-19 cases can be found here.

A total of 36 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In total, 924 have fully recovered from the infection in Singapore.

There are currently 1,368 confirmed cases who are still in hospital.



"Of these, most are stable or improving, and 26 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit. 8,874 are isolated and cared for at community facilities.

"These are those who have mild symptoms, or are clinically well but still test positive for COVID-19," MOH said.



NEW CLUSTERS IDENTIFIED

Six new clusters were also identified on Thursday, including several foreign worker dormitories.

Two of the newly confirmed cases were linked to nine previous cases to form a new cluster at Blue Stars Dormitory at 3 Kian Teck Lane.



Another newly confirmed case was linked to 24 previous cases to form a new cluster at Hulett Dormitory located at 20 Senoko Drive.

A total of 26 of the earlier confirmed cases are now been linked to a new cluster at Seatown Dormitory at 69H Tuas South Avenue 1.



With two of the newly confirmed cases linked to 30 previous cases, a new cluster was formed at Woodlands Dormitory, 27 Woodlands Sector 1.



Thirteen of the newly confirmed cases were linked to 13 previous cases to form a new cluster at 12 Loyang Drive.



Two of the newly confirmed cases are linked to nine previous cases to form a new cluster at 59 Sungei Kadut Loop.



Twelve people in Singapore have died due to COVID-19. The latest fatality was announced on Wednesday night - an 84-year-old Singaporean woman identified as Case 1071.

A 46 year-old male Indian national with the infection died on Thursday. He was confirmed to have COVID-19 on Apr 19, but investigations into his death are ongoing.

MORE DORMITORIES GAZETTED AS ISOLATION AREAS

Singapore has seen an increase in the number of cases among work permit holders residing in foreign worker dormitories in the last two weeks.

So far, a total of 21 foreign worker dormitories have been gazetted as isolation areas.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Tuesday announced that Singapore will extend its COVID-19 "circuit breaker" period by four weeks until Jun 1.



Addressing the spike in COVID-19 cases in dormitories, Mr Lee said the Government will increase medical resources there and deploy more medical personnel to ensure workers with flu symptoms get "appropriate and timely" medical treatment.

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