50 New Covid-19 Cases Reported Today (22 Aug); 2 Cases In The Community

Lo and behold, we are now back in the double-digit range, and the best part? It’s the lowest one for this entire week.

On 22 Aug 2020, as of 12pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) preliminarily reported 50 new Covid-19 cases.

This brings the total to 56,266.

There are two cases in the community, both of them Singaporeans.

There are 5 imported cases, all of whom were placed on Stay-Home-Notice (SHN) upon arrival in Singapore.

More details will be shared tonight.

Details On 21 Aug Cases

On 21 Aug 2020, MOH reported 117 new Covid-19 cases.

This includes 6 cases in the community.

1 of the case is already under quarantine as he’s linked to a previously confirmed case

The other 4 cases are detected through MOH’s proactive screening and surveillance, with 3 of them working in the construction, marine and process sectors who are living outside the dormitories and 1 of them working in frontline COVID-19 operations.

1 more community case is a man who works in a camera shop.

The man, a 61-year-old Singaporean, had his symptoms on 17 August 2020 and had gone to the doctor. He was diagnosed with an acute respiratory infection (ARI) and a swab test confirmed his status on 20 August 2020. He is, therefore, an unlinked case.

Four shopping malls, Tampines Mall, West Mall, Century Square, and Gek Poh Shopping Centre, were also added to a list of public places visited by COVID-19 cases in the community during their infectious period.

Here’s the complete list:

As usual, you just need to monitor your health if you’ve been to these places during those timings, and there is no need to avoid places where confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been. The National Environment Agency will engage the management of affected premises to provide guidance on cleaning and disinfection.

Easing Of Border Restrictions

In case you’re unaware, Singapore’s border restrictions will change from 1 Sep 2020.

People who are travelling into Singapore from Brunei and New Zealand will not need to serve any SHN but they will be tested immediately for Covid-19.

The reason is that these countries are considered ‘low-risk’ in terms of Covid-19; Yes, even New Zealand.

Many countries will also have their SHN reduced from 14 days to 7 days, probably because so far, Malaysia, which is considered the trial programme, did not produce any imported cases.

This should be happy news to the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) who have been frantically looking for ways to revive the tourism industry, even going as far as to ask the government to open up the borders a bit more.

You can find out more here.