17 COVID-19 Cases Today (4 May); 5 Are Community Cases

And the notorious Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) cluster strikes again.

As of 12pm today (4 May), the Ministry of Health (MOH) has preliminarily confirmed 17 new cases of COVID-19 infection.

Five are community cases, all of which are linked to the TTSH cluster. The remaining 12 are imported.

This brings the total number of cases in Singapore to 61,252.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has increased from 10 cases in the week before to 60 cases in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also increased from 4 cases in the week before to 10 cases in the past week.

All COVID-19 Community Cases Reported on 3 May Were Initially Tested Negative for the Coronavirus

All 10 community cases reported yesterday (3 May) initially tested negative for the coronavirus.

Eight of the ten community cases are linked to The Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) cluster.

Five of these eight cases are patients who had been warded in TTSH Ward 9D, all of whom are Singaporeans aged between 53 and 94.

On 28 April, the five were transferred to the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) for isolation on 28 April, and tested for COVID-19. All five tests had come back negative.

But even though some of them also tested negative on their second test, all of them eventually tested positive just days after their first COVID-19 test.

Their serology tests have also returned a negative result, meaning all of them are carrying a fresh infection.

The other three cases linked to the TTSH cluster are staff working at the hospital. All are females aged 22 to 26. One is Singaporean, and the other two are Malaysia and Vietnam nationals.

As part of TTSH’s testing of all staff of the hospital, all of them were first tested between 28 and 30 April, and the results for all three came back negative.

But just as with the patients, all three staff tested positive just a few days later. Two experienced symptoms, while the only asymptomatic case—the 26-year-old Vietnamese nurse—had already completed her vaccination regimen.

She received her first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine on 18 January and the second dose on 8 February.

The remaining two community cases were linked to Changi Airport cluster, which began with the detection of an Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer’s infection.

In addition, seven imported COVID-19 cases were reported, all of whom were placed on stay-home notice (SHN) upon arrival in Singapore.

398 Active Cases

There are currently 131 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and none is in the intensive care unit.

267 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.

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

Feature Image: kandl stock / Shutterstock.com