It seems like the number of cases in dormitories isn’t going to dwindle any time.
As of 12pm today (12 September 2020), the Ministry of Health (MOH) has preliminarily confirmed an additional 42 cases of COVID-19 infection in Singapore.
4 cases are community cases, of whom 1 is a Singapore Permanent Resident and 3 are Work Pass holders.
There are also 10 imported cases, and they’ve all been placed on Stay-Home Notice upon arrival in Singapore.
This brings the total number of cases in Singapore to 57,271.
On average, based on yesterday’s numbers, the number of new cases in the community has decreased, from an average of 3 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 2 per day in the past week.
The number of unlinked cases in the community has also decreased, from an average of 2 cases per day in the week before, to an average of 1 per day in the past week.
Community numbers look good, but it’s a different story for dormitory clusters.
Dormitory Cases, a Problem That Remains Unsolved
Yesterday, there were 73 cases residing in dormitories.
34 had been identified earlier as contacts of previous cases, and had already been quarantined to prevent further transmission. They were tested during quarantine to determine their status.
As for the remaining cases, they were picked up through surveillance testing, such the bi-weekly Rostered Routine Testing of workers living in dormitories.
Of the cases residing in dormitories reported yesterday, 33 are from Avery Lodge Dormitory, the majority of whom had been placed on quarantine earlier and were tested during quarantine to determine their status.
Based on serological test results, 38 of yesterday’s cases might have been past infections.
You can read more on why cases in dormitories are still surfacing even when they were supposed to be cleared here.