Covid-19: 533 new cases reported on Wednesday; 1 visited Jurong West 505 Market and Food Centre

[UPDATED, 10.24pm]

The Ministry of Health (MOH) has confirmed 533 new coronavirus cases in Singapore today (May 27).

Out of these, there are four community cases while the remaining cases come from Work Permit holders living in dormitories.

Of the four community cases, three are Singaporeans/Permanent Residents while one is a Work Permit holder.

Among the new community cases are a 65-year-old female Singaporean and a 37-year-old female Singaporean who were both asymptomatic and were confirmed to have the virus on May 26. 

They are both contact cases of previously confirmed Covid-19 patients, and are linked to the Jurong Penjuru Dormitory cluster.

MOH has also provided a list of public places that confirmed cases in the community had visited for more than 30 minutes.

A confirmed case has visited Jurong West 505 Market and Food Centre (505 Jurong West St 52) on May 25 from 11am to 12pm.

A confirmed case has visited Bukit Panjang Plaza's FairPrice Finest on May 24 from 12pm to 1230pm. On the same day, a confirmed case also visited Hillion Mall's NTUC FairPrice from 1230pm to 1pm.

As a precautionary measure, people who had been at these locations during the specified timings should monitor their health closely for 14 days from their date of visit and see a doctor if they develop symptoms, said MOH.

The number of new cases in the community has increased, from an average of five cases per day in the week before to an average of six per day in the past week. This is partly due to the active surveillance and screening of nursing home residents and pre-school staff, which have picked up more cases in the past week.

The number of unlinked cases in the community has remained stable at an average of two per day in the past two weeks.

MOH continues to pick up more cases among Work Permit holders residing in dormitories, including in factory-converted dormitories, because of extensive testing in these premises, as part of their process to verify and test the status of all workers.

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

MOH has announced a new cluster at a dormitory at 38 Tuas View Square as two of the newly confirmed cases are linked to it.

Of the 525 cases who are still in the hospital, most are stable and improving. Seven are in critical condition, while 15,052 cases who are clinically well but still test positive for Covid-19 are isolated and cared for at community facilities.

MOH also announced that 832 more cases of Covid-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities. In all, 17,276 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.

This brings the total number of cases to 32,876, with 17,276 patients discharged and 23 deaths.

For the latest updates on the coronavirus, visit here.

melissagoh@asiaone.com