SINGAPORE - A safe distancing ambassador working at Westgate mall, a basic care assistant at Alexandra Hospital and two pre-school teachers were among 34 new Covid-19 community cases reported on Wednesday (May 19).
Three prison inmates and five schoolchildren also tested positive.
Four of the new cases are currently unlinked.
These include the safe distancing ambassador, who is a 45-year-old man who is fully vaccinated against the virus, and the Alexandra Hospital employee, a 24-year-old woman.
The other two unlinked cases are a 28-year-old engineer and a 45-year-old deliveryman.
The remaining 30 community cases have been linked to previous cases. Among them, 28 had already been quarantined, said the Ministry of Health on Wednesday.
These include the two pre-school teachers. The first is a 33-year-old woman who works at My First Skool in Bukit Panjang. She has received one dose of the vaccine.
Her infection has been linked to that of a 45-year-old deliveryman at Fairfield Book Publishers whose infection was also reported on Wednesday.
The second is a 36-year-old teacher at Safari House in Lakeside. Her infection has been linked to that of a 64-year-old unemployed woman who was confirmed to have Covid-19 infection on May 15.
MOH has also designated five new clusters, for a total of 24 active outbreaks in Singapore.
These include a cluster at Jin Tai Tong Food Industries, which has five cases, and one at SMS InfoComm, which has three.
There were also seven newly reported patients whose infections are linked to a cluster at Changi Airport, which now has 95 people.
Three of the seven newly linked patients are primary school pupils.
They comprise two 12-year-old girls at White Sands Primary School and St Anthony's Canossian Primary, and an 11-year-old boy at St Stephen's School.
The other two children who tested positive are a six-year-old boy at Singapore Hokkien Huay Kuan Pre-school and a 15-year-old boy at Yuying Secondary School.
The six-year-old's infection has been linked to a cluster at Learning Point tuition centre, as he is related to a previous case there, while the secondary school student is related to a 77-year-old housewife who tested positive last Saturday.
Overall, the number of new cases in the community has increased from 49 two weeks ago to 187 cases in the past week, while the number of unlinked cases in the community has gone up from nine cases to 49 in the same period.
There were also four imported cases who had been placed on stay-home notice on arrival in Singapore, said the ministry.
Of these, three are returning Singaporeans or permanent residents.
There were no new cases in the workers' dormitories.
The new cases take Singapore's total to 61,689.
There are currently five patients in critical condition in the intensive care unit, the same number as on Tuesday.
This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.
