Singapore records 932 virus cases to take tally past 17,000

A man wears a protective face mask as he walks in a deserted mall along the Orchard Road shopping belt last month. (AP pic)

SINGAPORE: Singapore on Friday confirmed an additional 932 new cases of Covid-19, of which only five cases are Singaporeans or permanent residents.

The Ministry of Health (MOH), in a statement, attributed the “vast majority” of Friday’s cases to foreign workers staying at dormitories, and said the tally of positive cases has risen to 17,101.

It said it is still working on the details of the cases and will provide an update later in the day.

In a detailed data released late Thursday, the MOH said there was an increase to 31 in the number of new cases among work permit holders residing outside dormitories.

“The vast majority of these cases are workers in the construction sector serving their Stay-Home Notice (SHN) requirements,” it said.

Of Thursday’s 528 new cases, no imported cases were reported. Nine of the cases were in the community, 488 were dorm residents and 31 from outside dorms.

The republic had also identified 12 new clusters.

Its largest cluster, S11 Dormitory @ Punggol, has so far confirmed a total of 2,449 cases.

For Thursday’s tally of 16,169, Singapore classified 1,201 as community cases, 571 imported cases, and 555 cases involving work permit holders not residing in dorms.

Foreign workers at dorms, meanwhile, dominated the tally by about 85%, or 13,842 cases. - FMT