SINGAPORE - There were 49 new coronavirus cases in Singapore on Thursday (April 2), said the Ministry of Health (MOH), with three new clusters.

They are at Mustafa Centre, a construction site at Maxwell MRT station and Keppel Shipyard.

Of the 49 new cases, 41 are local cases and eight are imported. This brings the total number of confirmed cases to 1,049.

Of the local cases, 26 are linked to previous cases and clusters while 15 are currently unlinked.

In all, 21 cases were discharged from hospitals and community isolation facilities, with the number of those recovered now stands at 266.

Of the 464 confirmed cases who are still in hospital, most are stable or improving.

There are 23 patients in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

There are also 315 cases who are clinically well being isolated at Concord International Hospital, Mount Elizabeth Hospital, Gleneagles Hospital and the Community Isolation Facility at D'Resort NTUC because they still test positive.

Among the new cases is a teacher at My First Skool in Rivervale Crescent. The Early Childhood Development Agency said the centre will be closed for cleaning from Friday to April 14.

A total of 11 cases – including those announced earlier – have been linked to the Mustafa Centre cluster. Five cases are linked to the Maxwell MRT station construction site, and three to Keppel Shipyard.

Ten of Thursday's cases were linked to other clusters, including two SingPost Centre employees.

In a statement, SingPost said that the cluster began when a contractor reported to work on March 19 while on medical leave. He later tested positive for the virus.

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Between March 27 and Thursday, seven SingPost employees came down with the virus and dozens more were quarantined as a precaution.

“This underscores the importance of staying at home and avoiding social interactions if unwell,” said Minister for Communications and Information S. Iswaran. “Exercising social responsibility is key to our collective effort to contain the spread of Covid-19 in Singapore.”

In a separate statement, Keppel Shipyard said that around 100 staff have been put on leave of absence as a precaution after two employees were diagnosed with the virus. It has also closed parts of its Tuas yard.



Keppel Shipyard said that around 100 staff have been put on leave of absence as a precaution after two employees were diagnosed with the virus. PHOTO: KEPPEL



One of Thursday's cases is a 26-year-old Singaporean who had been in India from March 2 to 18. She works as a healthcare attendant at the Institute of Mental Health, but had not gone to work since she began having symptoms on March 20.

She was confirmed to have the virus Wednesday.

MOH also gave an update on a case announced on Wednesday. The 26-year-old Bangladeshi national, a long-term pass holder with no travel history to affected countries or regions, reported symptoms on March 28.

He was confirmed to have the virus on Tuesday. The man is a contractor working on the installation of toilet facilities in Sengkang General Hospital. Before he was admitted to the hospital, he had gone to work but not interacted with patients.

On Thursday, MOH also reported that a fourth person in Singapore has died of the coronavirus.

The 68-year-old Indonesian man died from serious complications due to the infection at 6.43am on Thursday morning. He had a history of diabetes and hypertension.

The Singapore work-pass holder, who had been in Indonesia from Jan 20 to March 16, was an imported case. He was admitted to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) on March 22 and was confirmed to have the infection on the same day.

The man was cared for in the intensive care unit for seven days, since March 26, before he succumbed to the disease.

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Separately, the Ministry of Communications and Information has launched two new channels for the public to keep up with developments on the Covid-19 pandemic.

These are the Gov.sg Telegram channel and a refresh of the Gov.sg Twitter channel.

It added that the number of subscribers to the existing channel on WhatsApp, which pushes out daily updates on the situation in the four official languages, has grown from 7,000 to over 900,000 in 10 weeks.