Singapore records 422 new COVID-19 cases, mostly foreign workers
Singapore, Jun 11 () Singapore on Thursday reported 422 new coronavirus cases, majority of them foreign workers living in dormitories, taking the total number of infections in the country to 39,387, the Health Ministry said.
Only one patient is a Singaporean citizen.
The rest 421 patients are all foreign workers living in dormitories, which have been the main source of spreading the disease through close contacts, the ministry said.
The new coronavirus patients included five community cases. The Singaporean national is among one of such patients. All the community cases are asymptomatic and were picked up through the ministry's active screening measures.
The number of community cases have been increasing since Singapore began its phased reopening of businesses and economic activities on June 2.
The daily average for new community cases rose from four two weeks ago to nine in the past week. Unlinked cases have also increased from an average of two per day to four over the same period, the ministry said.
With 655 coronavirus patients discharged from hospitals and community facilities on Wednesday, a total of 26,523 people have recovered from the disease.
Three of the 220 hospitalised cases are in critical condition, the ministry said, adding that 12,185 are lodged in community facilities for mild symptoms.
Singapore has reported 25 deaths from COVID-19 complications, while nine people who tested positive died of other causes.
With Singapore in Phase 1 of a post-circuit breaker new normal, the country is treading carefully in reopening the economy, the Channel News Asia reported.
The circuit breakers have bought Singapore valuable time to ramp up testing and help the healthcare system cope with the surge in the foreign worker dormitories, it said.
The government's plan in containing the pandemic is a three-prong strategy of the identification of symptoms, determination of the virus through testing and contact tracing and the isolation of suspected cases, including quarantine and stay-home-notices.
Singapore has already allocated a total of SGD 92.9 billion or 19.2 per cent of the GDP to save livelihoods through four different budgets -- Unity, Resilience, Solidarity and Fortitude. GS SCY SCY SCY