Coronavirus: 12 new cases in Singapore, including 9 from Safra Jurong cluster

SINGAPORE - Twelve new coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Singapore, nine of which are related to the private dinner function at Safra Jurong on Feb 15, the Ministry of Health said on Sunday (March 8).

Of the three remaining cases, one is linked to a previous case and one is an imported case. The last is currently not linked to any case.

One of the new cases is a 58-year-old Singaporean who reported symptoms last Tuesday (March 3).

She went to see a general practitioner that day, as well as two days later, and was confirmed to have the virus last Saturday.

The woman, who is linked to the Safra Jurong cluster, lives at Jurong West Street 74, where she works from home as a hairdresser. She had attended to customers after becoming symptomatic.

Another case is a 69-year-old Singaporean who lives in Jurong West Street 64 and reported symptoms last Sunday.

He sought treatment at a GP clinic last Tuesday and Friday, and was taken to Ng Teng Fong General Hospital by ambulance last Friday. Last Saturday afternoon, he was confirmed to have the coronavirus.

Before being admitted to hospital, the man had gone to work at Nanyang Technological University's (NTU) Innovation Centre. He was a member of the cleaning staff employed by the university's cleaning services vendor.

An NTU spokesman told The Straits Times the cleaner was last on campus last Tuesday, and has been on medical leave since then.

He said the university has conducted contact tracing and confirmed that the case did not have any contact with NTU students, or sustained contact with NTU staff during his work on last Monday and Tuesday morning.

The cleaner's activities were limited to the ground floor toilets and external area of the NTU Innovation Centre, which have since been thoroughly disinfected, the spokesman said.

He added that workers from the same cleaning company whom the cleaner had come into close contact with have been placed on Leave of Absence.

The imported case is a 64-year-old Indonesian who arrived in Singapore last Saturday. He was confirmed to have the virus on Sunday morning.

In all, eight of the 12 new cases are over 60 years old. The Safra Jurong dinner cluster now has 30 cases.

There are 150 confirmed cases to date, of which 90 have fully recovered and been discharged from hospital. No patients were discharged on Sunday.

Of the 60 still in hospital, most are stable or improving. Nine are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

As of noon on Sunday, the Health Ministry has identified 3,649 close contacts, who have been quarantined. Of these, 615 are currently quarantined, and 3,034 have completed their quarantine.

The Health Ministry also gave updates on cases announced last Saturday.

Case 138, a 26-year-old linked to the cluster at The Life Church and Missions Singapore, had been quarantined from Feb 15 to last Friday, as he was a close contact of previous cases.

When his quarantine ended, the man, who lives at Rivervale Drive, visited Safra Punggol. Tests confirmed he had the virus that afternoon.

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.

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