SINGAPORE – There are 125 new coronavirus patients confirmed as of Thursday noon (July 9), taking Singapore’s total to 45,423.

They include 21 community cases, comprising four Singaporeans or permanent residents and 17 work pass holders, said the Ministry of Health (MOH).

Of these 21 cases, five were close contacts of earlier cases and had already been placed on quarantine, MOH said. Epidemiological investigations are being done for the other cases.

There is also one imported case who had been placed on stay-home notice when the person arrived in Singapore.

Migrant workers living in dormitories make up the vast majority of the other cases.

More details will be announced on Thursday night.

Earlier on Thursday, the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (Muis) said that the Al-Ansar Mosque in Bedok North was notified by MOH on Tuesday that a Covid-19 patient had visited the mosque for evening prayers eight times between June 26 and July 2.

As a precautionary measure, the mosque was closed from Tuesday evening until Wednesday for comprehensive cleaning and disinfection to be done, said Muis.

The mosque resumed prayer services on Thursday, and Friday prayers will be carried out as planned on July 10.

On Wednesday, seven worker dormitories were cleared of patients who tested positive for Covid-19. These dorms now house only recovered individuals and those who have recently tested negative for the virus.

MOH said on Wednesday that the inter-agency task force has been clearing dormitories through aggressive testing of migrant workers residing there.

The seven dormitories, which are also now closed clusters, are at Tuas South Street 12, 109 Ubi Avenue 4, 11 Defu Lane 1, 12 Kwong Min Road, 18 Woodlands Industrial Park E1, 55 Genting Lane and 6 Tuas View Square.

MOH also said on Wednesday that a 69-year-old Singaporean man who had a history of medical conditions – including diabetes, hypertension and chronic kidney disease – died on Tuesday and was confirmed to have Covid-19.

The preliminary cause of death was cardio-respiratory failure, pending further investigations by the coroner.

On Tuesday, he was found unresponsive at home and was taken to Sengkang General Hospital’s emergency department, where he was confirmed to have the virus.

He is Singapore’s 13th case of a patient who tested positive for the coronavirus but died from other causes.

On Wednesday, MOH also added Penang Culture, Don Don Donki at Jem and the Singtel outlet at Jurong Point to its list of places visited by Covid-19 patients while they were infectious.

Of the nine cases in the community announced on Wednesday, three were linked to previous cases or clusters, while six were unlinked at the time.

There were also three new imported Covid-19 patients on Wednesday. They were a Singaporean who had returned from the Philippines on June 26, and two Indian nationals who are dependant’s pass holders and had returned from India on June 26.

All three were placed on 14-day stay-home notices when they arrived in Singapore and were tested while serving the notices.

Migrant workers living in dormitories made up the remaining 146 cases.

MOH also announced a new cluster at a dormitory in 12 Kian Teck Crescent.

The average number of new daily cases in the community during a week has increased from eight cases two weeks ago to 14 in the past week.

The number of unlinked cases in the community during a week has increased from a daily average of four cases to six over the same period.

With 321 cases discharged on Wednesday, 41,310 patients have fully recovered from the disease.

A total of 215 patients remain in hospital, including one in the intensive care unit, while 3,734 are recuperating in community facilities.

Singapore has had 26 deaths from Covid-19 complications.

Globally, the virus outbreak, which began in December last year, has infected more than 12.1 million people. More than 551,000 people have died.

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