24 COVID-19 Cases Today (30 Apr); 9 are Community Cases

With new clusters forming daily, we know that today’s report ain’t going to be good.

As of 12pm today (30 Apr), the Ministry of Health (MOH) has preliminarily confirmed 24 new cases of COVID-19 infection.

9 are community cases. Amongst them, 4 cases are linked to the cluster in Tan Tock Seng Hospital and were detected from MOH’s proactive testing of patients and staff at TTSH.

There are 13 cases in total linked to TTSH so far.

This brings the total number of cases in Singapore to 61,145.

Based on yesterday’s figures, the number of new cases in the community has increased from 10 cases in the week before to 28 cases in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also increased from 5 cases in the week before to 7 cases in the past week.

Only Unlinked Community Case Reported on 29 Apr Has Also Been Fully Vaccinated Against COVID-19

The  39-year-old Vietnamese woman works as a cleaner at a community care facility in Tuas South.

These facilities house people who have tested positive for COVID-19 but have mild symptoms and lower risk factors.

The woman, like other cleaners there, dons full personal protective equipment while at work, including an N95 mask, face shield, gown, and gloves.

She also helps out on occasion at a food stall at The Summit in the National University of Singapore’s Bukit Timah campus.

When she was tested as part of rostered routine testing on Monday (26 Apr), her pooled test result came back positive for COVID-19 the next day and she was taken to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases.

A subsequent test done there also came back positive.

The authorities then discovered that the woman had completed her vaccination regimen – she received her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine on 27 Jan, and the second dose on 19 Feb.

All her previous tests from the routine screening, including the latest one on 14 Apr, were negative.

Her infection is currently unlinked.

Remaining 15 Community Cases Linked to Clusters

The remaining 15 community cases reported yesterday were linked to existing COVID-19 clusters.

Seven of them are family members of the ICA officer working at Changi Airport whose infection was reported on Wednesday.

The man and his family had gathered for a meal on Sunday, which is when the disease was likely to spread.

The other eight cases are linked to the growing coronavirus cluster at Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) which began with the infection of a nurse deployed to Ward D – a general ward.

Two staff members and six patients have since tested positive, meaning there are now 9 infections linked to the cluster.

TTSH has introduced drastic measures to contain the outbreak, including barring visitors from entering the hospital except for critically ill patients.

353 Active Cases

There are currently 110 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and none is in the intensive care unit.

243 are isolated and cared for at community facilities. These are those who have mild symptoms, or are clinically well but still test positive for COVID-19.

30 have passed away from complications due to COVID-19 infection.

Featured Image: kandl stock / Shutterstock.com (Image for illustration purpose only)