16 COVID-19 Cases Today (5 May); 1 is a Community Case

Can it be? Only one community case today?

Maybe this is the universe’s way of consoling us after last night (4 May)’s announcements about the tightened COVID-19 measures.

As of 12pm today (5 May), the Ministry of Health (MOH) has preliminarily confirmed 16 new cases of COVID-19 infection.

One is a community case.

This brings the total number of cases in Singapore to 61,268.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has increased from 11 cases in the week before to 64 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.

3 of the New Cases From TTSH Cluster Reported on 4 May Were Visitors to the Hospital

17 new COVID-19 infections were reported yesterday (4 May), of whom five were from the community.

All five community cases were linked to the Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) cluster. They comprise three visitors to Ward 9D, a pharmacist, and a patient.

The first visitor is a 53-year-old Singaporean woman who visited Ward 9D multiple times between 18 April and 28 April.

She had been asked by MOH to self-isolate and placed on quarantine on 30 April. She exhibited no symptoms but tested positive for COVID-19 on 3 May. She received her first dose of COVID-19 vaccine on 17 April.

The second visitor is a 45-year-old Philippine woman who went to Ward 9D on 25 April. She too was placed on quarantine on 30 April and developed a runny nose, sore throat, and fever on 2 May. After reporting her symptoms and getting a swab test done on the same day, she was tested positive for the virus on 3 May.

The third visitor is a 39-year-old Indonesian woman who visited Ward 9D on 21 and 22 April. She was also quarantined on 30 April and developed a sore throat and fever on 3 May. She reported her symptoms and tested positive for COVID-19 on the same day.

MOH said that all three visitors’ infections were detected through proactive case-finding.

The other two cases that have been added to the TTSH cluster are a 25-year-old pharmacist who works at TTSH and a patient who had been warded in Ward 9D at TTSH.

Besides the five community cases, 12 imported infections were also reported yesterday.

The COVID-19 multi-ministry task force also revealed that five people in the TTSH cluster are carrying the B.1.617.2 COVID-19 variant, also known as the Indian strain. They comprise four patients and a doctor.

In addition, two people linked to the Changi Airport cluster have also been found to be carrying the B.1.617.2 variant.

398 Active Cases

There are currently 131 confirmed cases who are still in hospital. Of these, most are stable or improving, and 2 are in critical condition 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 (Image for illustration purpose only)