Singapore’s Covid-19 cases nearly 24,000, 90% involve foreign workers

(FMT) – Singapore’s Ministry of Health (MOH) today confirmed 486 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the infection tally for the republic to 23,822.

The preliminary data at noon today showed only two cases involving Singaporeans or permanent residents while the rest were foreign workers at dormitories.

The ministry said the lower number of cases today was partly due to fewer tests being processed at a testing laboratory as it was recalibrating its apparatus for one of the test kits.

Late yesterday Singapore reported that 33 cases which previously tested positive for Covid-19 were actually found to be false positive due to an apparatus calibration issue for one of the test kits.

The ministry said it has taken immediate action to rectify the situation, adding that the laboratory has stopped all tests and is working to resolve the calibration issue.

In addition, there were two results that had been equivocal, and were subsequently verified to be negative upon re-testing, it said.

Singapore has so far classified 1,329 as community cases, 580 as imported cases and 466 as cases involving foreign workers outside dorms.

Foreign workers living in dorms, meanwhile, dominated Sunday’s tally of 23,336. Those infections number 20,961, which makes up 90% of total cases.

The republic identified five new clusters yesterday, bringing the total to about 90 clusters.