30 COVID-19 Cases Today (19 Jan); 4 Are Community Cases

The number of daily community cases has doubled today.

Today (19 Jan), as of 12pm, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has preliminarily confirmed 30 new cases of COVID-19 infection.

26 of them are imported cases while 4 are community cases. MOH will provide more details about the cases tonight.

This brings the total number of cases in Singapore to 59,157.

Based on yesterday’s figures, the number of new cases in the community has increased from 8 cases in the week before to 10 cases in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has decreased from 5 cases in the week before to 4 cases in the past week.

Lawrence Wong: Authorities Considering Additional Measures As More Community Cases Emerge

Education Minister Lawrence Wong said the authorities are considering additional measures to contain the coronavirus, as more infections in the community emerge.

There’s certainly good reason for Mr Wong’s concern.

The number of new cases in the community rose to 10 in the past week, up from eight in the previous week.

In a Facebook post on Monday (18 Jan), Mr Wong also noted that a new cluster linked to a police para-vet was recently detected, the first local cluster in months.

‘Our contact tracers are working hard to identify all the possible contacts, ring-fence the potential cases and prevent them from spreading further”, he said.

“We are also monitoring the situation carefully and considering if additional measures are necessary to ensure the infection remains under control.”

You can view the full post here:

Urged Residents to See a Doctor

As the minister pointed out, there have been several instances lately of confirmed cases not seeking medical treatment despite exhibiting symptoms associated with Covid-19.

In fact, four of the six in the para-vet cluster did not seek medical treatment despite falling ill.

In his post, Mr Wong urged residents to not only comply with the safety measures in place, but also to see a doctor when sick.

“Please cooperate with all the safe management measures – wear your masks, see a doctor when sick, and do your part to reduce transmission risks,” he said.

“The virus is still circulating silently within our community and we cannot afford to let our guard down.”

Featured Image: kandl stock / Shutterstock.com