Covid-19: New clusters in Henderson Crescent, Changi General Hospital

SINGAPORE - Two new Covid-19 clusters at 105 Henderson Crescent and Changi General Hospital (CGH) were announced by the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Friday night (June 25).

There are currently 10 cases that have been linked to the 105 Henderson Crescent cluster and three to the CGH  one, including cases from previous days.

Cases in the 105 Henderson Crescent cluster include a 70-year-old female retiree. She is a family member and household contact of another case also linked to the cluster on Friday.

She developed a runny nose on Thursday but did not seek medical attention.

She was detected when she was tested the same day as part of MOH's community surveillance testing for residents of 105 Henderson Crescent on Thursday.

Her test result came back positive the same day. Her serology test result, which indicates how recent an infection is likely to be, is pending.

MOH added that the woman received her first vaccine dose on June 10.

The woman and her family member are two of the six cases linked to the new cluster on Friday.

Two cases were also detected and linked to the new CGH cluster, both of whom worked as porters in the hospital.

They are both workplace contacts of another porter who was reported as one of the cases on Thursday by MOH.

In total, 12 linked cases were detected on Friday, including two more cases in the Bukit Merah View Market and Hawker Centre cluster, bringing the total number of cases in the cluster to 87.

There were also three unlinked cases and five imported cases confirmed on Friday, for a total of 20 new cases.

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Unlinked cases include a 32-year-old man who works as an equipment specialist at Singapore General Hospital (SGH).

He developed a sore throat and cough on Wednesday and sought medical treatment at SGH on Thursday.

He tested positive the same day and his serology test result is pending.

MOH added that the man received his first vaccine dose on Jan 13, and his second dose on Feb 3.

The 20 confirmed cases as at Friday noon take Singapore's total to 62,513, said the ministry.

The 12 linked cases consist of four that had already been placed under quarantine and eight that were detected through surveillance - whether community testing, or when a person seeks treatment at a clinic.

All five imported cases had already been placed on stay-home notice upon arrival in Singapore. Four of the five imported cases are returning Singaporeans or permanent residents.

Two of them are Singaporeans and the other two are permanent residents. They returned from India, Indonesia and Britain.

There were no new cases from workers' dormitories for the 11th straight day.

The weekly total number of community cases is 93 in the past week, down from 104 in the previous week.

However, the number of unlinked cases has risen to 18 in the past week, compared with 14 cases in the week before.

There are currently 39 active clusters of infection, up from 37 on Thursday, due to the two new clusters.

As at Friday noon, 139 patients remained hospitalised, including four in critical condition in the intensive care unit, while 178 were recuperating in community facilities.

Singapore has had 35 deaths from Covid-19 complications, while 15 who tested positive have died of other causes.

Read the full MOH press release here.

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