Out of the 14 Community Cases Reported on 2 May, 13 Are Linked to Active Clusters

After months of no more than five community cases, we were hit with not one, not two, but nine clusters all at once. 

The authorities are scrambling to contain the virus, and Singaporeans are scrambling to contain their panic.

But, just like Mr Lawrence Wong’s following on TikTok, the number of COVID-19 community infections in Singapore continues to grow.

Out of the 14 Community Cases Reported on 2 May, 13 Are Linked to Active Clusters

14 community cases were reported yesterday (2 May), of which 13 were linked to active COVID-19 clusters.

11 were linked to the Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) cluster, one to the community care facility cluster in Tuas, and another to the cluster at Changi Airport.

The last case—a 37-year-old helper from India—is unlinked.

TTSH Cluster

Seven of the 11 new cases in the TTSH cluster are aged between 60 and 98. One is a physiotherapist and three are people who visited Ward 9D, where most of the infections were discovered.

Five of them had already been discharged and sent home, but were later found to have the virus.

They had been placed on quarantine and tested as part of efforts to contain the outbreak in the hospital.

TTSH has completed the testing of all inpatients in its main wards last Friday (30 Apr) and, thankfully, the results are all negative.

The hospital will also be testing all 12,000 staff at the facility, and has already swabbed 7,000 of them. Those working in clinical areas will be tested first.

Tuas South Facility Cluster

The COVID-19 case linked to the community care facility cluster in Tuas is a 53-year-old Malaysian who is a household contact of two previous cases:

• A 41-year-old Malaysian sales assistant at New Odense(s) Confectionery & Bakery
• A 26-year-old PR who works as a cleaner at the facility

The 53-year-old works as a hairstylist at Me To Do Studio. She was placed on quarantine on 29 April and taken to a dedicated facility the next day.

She then developed a sore throat on Saturday (1 May) and later tested positive for COVID-19. Her serology test result is negative, meaning this is likely a fresh infection.

Changi Airport Cluster

The last community case is a 32-year-old Singaporean Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer deployed at the Home Team Academy.

He was last at work on 26 April and was placed on quarantine the next day. When he was tested for COVID-19, his result came back negative.

However, when he was tested again two days later, his result was positive.

The man had already completed his vaccination regimen, receiving his second dose on 17 February.

Feature Image: Miguel Vidal / Shutterstock.com