15 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore, all imported

SINGAPORE: Singapore reported 15 new COVID-19 cases as of noon on Wednesday (Mar 24), all imported infections.

No new cases were found in the community and in foreign workers' dormitories, said the Ministry of Health (MOH).

This marks the 12th consecutive day with no locally transmitted cases.

The imported cases were all placed on stay-home notice upon their arrival in Singapore, said the ministry. 

Among the cases are three Singaporeans who returned from Indonesia and the United Kingdom. 

READ: COVID-19 vaccination now open to Singapore residents aged 45 to 59

There are also two work pass holders who arrived from India and a dependant's pass holder who arrived from Indonesia. 

The remaining nine cases are work permit holders who arrived from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia and Malaysia, of whom one is a foreign domestic worker. 

437 NUS UTOWN RESIDENTS TEST NEGATIVE

The health ministry also provided an update on its special testing operations to test certain individuals from the UTown Residence North Tower at the National University of Singapore. 

The residents were tested after COVID-19 viral fragments were detected on Mar 21 from the testing of a wastewater sample collected on Mar 20. MOH said that there was evidence to suggest that this may have been due to "viral shedding" from a recovered past infection amongst the residents. 

MOH on Wednesday said 438 individuals, excluding the recovered case, were swabbed. A total of 437 results have come back negative for COVID-19 infection while one is pending.

The health ministry had said a day earlier that 437 individuals, excluding the recovered case, were swabbed.

15 MORE PATIENTS DISCHARGED

MOH said the number of new cases in the community has decreased from two cases in the week before to none in the past week. 

The number of unlinked cases in the community has also decreased from two cases in the week before to none in the past week. 

READ: Weddings, live performances to have increased capacities with pre-event COVID-19 tests

Among the 99 confirmed cases reported from Mar 18 to Mar 24, a total of 33 cases have tested positive for their serology tests while 49 have tested negative. Further 17 serology test results are pending.

Fifteen more cases have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities, bringing Singapore's total recoveries to 60,078.

There are 25 cases still in hospital. Most of them are stable or improving, and none is in the intensive care unit. Another 103 are being isolated and cared for at community facilities.

Singapore residents aged 45 to 59 can now register their interest for the COVID-19 vaccine online at vaccine.gov.sg. 

Registrants will receive within a few days an SMS with a personalised URL to book their appointments. However, it may take longer if there is a delay in the vaccine delivery schedule, said MOH.

“We expect global supplies to remain tight and supply chains may be disrupted from time to time, which will affect our pace of vaccination," said Health Minister Gan Kim Yong at a press conference by the COVID-19 multi-ministry task force.

READ: COVID-19: More employees may return to the workplace, split teams not required from Apr 5 

READ: Back to the office: 7 things you need to know as Singapore shifts to more flexible way of working amid COVID-19

On Wednesday, the task force also announced that more people may return to the workplace from Apr 5, and split team arrangements are no longer mandatory. The current cap on the time an employee spends at the workplace will also be lifted.

Employers are still “strongly encouraged” to stagger start times and implement flexible working hours, said the task force.

Some events like weddings and live performances will be allowed to have more attendees from next month if pre-event COVID-19 testing is implemented.

Those who have taken both doses of a COVID-19 vaccine at least two weeks before the event will not have to be tested.

As of Wednesday, Singapore has reported a total of 60,236 COVID-19 cases. 

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