The Ministry of Health has confirmed 908 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore as of 12 pm on August 5. This takes the national tally of infections to 54,254.
The vast majority of the new cases are Work Permit holders residing in foreign worker dormitories, of which most are dormitory residents who were tested during their isolation/quarantine period, even though they are asymptomatic.
“They are amongst the final batch of workers being cleared and they come from dormitories with a relatively high prevalence of COVID-19. Hence we expect the daily case counts to be high for the coming days, before tapering down thereafter as the Inter-agency Taskforce completes the dormitory clearance,” said MOH.
The ministry also stated that they are on track to clear all the dormitories by August 7, with the exception of a few standalone blocks in the dormitories that serve as quarantine facilities.
“There are presently about 9,700 workers in these quarantine facilities. They will have to serve out their 14-day isolation periods, and be subject to an exit test before they are able to resume work,” the statement said.
Amongst the new cases on Wednesday are 4 cases in the community, of whom 3 are Singaporeans/Permanent Residents and 1 is a Work Pass holder.
In addition, there are 4 imported cases who had arrived in Singapore from India on July 22. Three of them are Dependant’s Pass holders. The remaining case is a Short-Term Visit Pass holder whose application to enter Singapore was approved as she is an elderly whose family are Singapore residents.
All of them had been placed on 14-day Stay-Home Notice (SHN) upon arrival in Singapore, and were serving their SHN at dedicated facilities. They had been tested while serving their SHN.
