Singapore sees 876 new infections, review finds 33 false positives

The Ministry of Health (MOH) recorded 876 new Covid-19 infections yesterday, including the only imported case in over a week.

It also found during a review that 33 cases had falsely tested positive due to a test kit apparatus calibration issue at a laboratory.

Subsequent retesting at the National Public Health Laboratory confirmed these were negative cases.

The lab has stopped all tests and is working to resolve the issue. There were no false negatives discovered.

MOH said two other cases that initially tested equivocal were also retested and found to be negative. When they were tested as equivocal, they were classified as positive as a precaution and isolated.

The total number of infections in Singapore now stands at 23,336.

Most of the new cases yesterday were foreign workers, with 860 of them living in dormitories and 11 outside of such facilities.

There were four cases in the community - one Singaporean, one permanent resident and two work pass holders.

ACACIA HOME

The Singaporean is a 63-year-old man who is a resident at Acacia Home and is linked to the cluster there.

The PR is a 49-year-old man linked to the cluster at Mustafa Centre.

The imported case is a 61-year-old Singaporean who had travel history to Qatar.

He was put on stay-home notice upon arrival in Singapore, and he developed symptoms last Thursday.

About 98 per cent of the new cases yesterday are linked to known clusters, while the rest are pending contact tracing.

Five new clusters were identified, all of which were at construction sites and industrial areas.

The number of discharged cases hit a high of 425 yesterday, bringing the total number of people who have recovered to 2,721.

There are still 1,097 cases in hospital, including 22 in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

There are 19,498 cases who are clinically well but still test positive for the virus, and they remain isolated at community care facilities.

There have been 20 deaths from complications due to the virus so far.

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By the numbers

876 New cases

20 Deaths

4 New cases in community

2721 Total discharged

23336 Total cases

1097 Total in hospital

452 Discharged yesterday

22 In intensive care unit