COVID-19: Foreigners drive Singapore record case spike

Singapore recorded its highest daily spike in coronavirus cases on Thursday, pushing the overall count close to 4,500.

In its daily update on Friday, the Health Ministry said 728 cases -- all locally transmitted -- were detected by Thursday afternoon, raising the total to 4,427.

“We have not had any new imported cases since 9 April,” the ministry said.

However, the daily figures showed that foreigners living and working in Singapore are the main contributors to the surge in coronavirus cases.

A total of 680 of the 728 new COVID-19 patients are work permit holders, according to the ministry.

An overwhelming majority of them, some 654, are residents of dormitories, which have become hotspots for coronavirus cases in Singapore.

The total number of patients linked to dormitories now stands at 2,689, or three in five of all cases, according to local daily The Straits Times.

Over 1.6 million people among Singapore’s nearly 5.7 million population are foreigners, of whom nearly 41% hold work permits, according to Channel News Asia.

“The number of new cases amongst work permit holders residing in dormitories has increased significantly, in line with our continued efforts to actively test and isolate the infected workers,” the ministry said.

“Of the new cases, 81% are linked to known clusters, while the rest are pending contact tracing.”

The ministry reported that 31 more patients have recovered, bringing the total to 683.

It said most patients in hospital are “stable or improving” but “23 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.”

“1,848 cases who are clinically well but still test positive for COVID-19 are isolated and cared for at community facilities. 10 have passed away from complications due to COVID-19 infection,” read the update.

According to a report by Today Online, Singapore’s government is mulling whether to temporarily shift recovered COVID-19 patients to cruise ships to avoid reemergence of the illness.

The novel coronavirus has spread to at least 185 countries and regions since emerging in China last December, with the U.S. and Europe being the worst-hit areas in the world.

More than 2.16 million cases have been reported worldwide, with the death toll above 146,000, and nearly 551,000 recoveries, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University in the U.S.