Singapore reported 884 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday (May 12), taking the country’s total to 24,671.
The vast majority of the cases are work permit holders residing in foreign worker dormitories, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) in its preliminary daily update.
Three cases are Singaporeans or permanent residents.
More details of the new cases will be announced later in the day, MOH added.
Singapore must remain vigilant
Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said at a media conference on Tuesday that while the Government hopes to ease more “circuit breaker” measures by Jun 1 if new cases of infection remain low, members of the public should not be complacent.
“As we gradually lift the circuit breaker measures, there is a risk that the community cases may rise again. This has been the experience of many countries which have seen a second wave of infections after relaxing their social distancing measures.”
Singapore has to remain “very careful, remain vigilant and minimise the risk of any sharp rise in cases, or large clusters in the community”, he said.
Regarding the number of migrant workers who have COVID-19, Mr Gan said this number is likely to “remain high for some time” while aggressive testing is carried out to progressively clear those living in dormitories, so that they can safely return to work when the time comes.
Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong said 20,000 workers who have COVID-19 are expected be discharged by the end of the month, with more expected to recover by June.
Singapore has had to lower its COVID-19 testing capacity over the past few days due to an issue at one of the laboratories, which resulted in 33 “false positive” cases.
Authorities are giving the lab time to properly recalibrate and revalidate its test kits as well as work through its “quality assurance processes”, said MOH’s director of medical services Kenneth Mak.
Singapore was conducting close to 7,600 COVID-19 tests a day before the issue at the lab was detected, he said.
Sign up for COVID-19 Free Coverage
Get our guide to the full list of banks/insurers providing insurance coverage in your email. We’re 99% sure you won’t regret this when COVID-19 fatality rates are at 1%.
