SINGAPORE - There were 16 new coronavirus cases confirmed as at noon on Thursday (April 15), taking Singapore's total to 60,735.
All of the cases were imported and had been placed on stay-home notice upon arrival in Singapore, said the Ministry of Health (MOH).
There were no community cases and no cases from migrant workers' dormitories.
More details will be announced on Thursday night.
On Wednesday, MOH reported a new local cluster after the sole Covid-19 case in the community announced on the same day was linked to three other cases in the country.
The patient, a 44-year-old Papua New Guinea national, arrived in Singapore from Australia on March 25 on a short-term visit pass for a work project.
Two of the other cases in the cluster are his co-workers, who arrived on a separate flight from Papua New Guinea, said MOH.
They were identified as the close contacts of another case who was previously reported and was on the same flight - a 50-year-old Colombian national, also here for work.
The latest patient in the cluster tested positive for the coronavirus infection on March 30.
The 44-year-old Papuan had previously tested negative for the virus five separate times - including once in a pre-departure test in Australia on March 23 and on arrival in Singapore on March 25.
MOH said that prior to being quarantined on April 1, he was on a controlled itinerary that was largely limited to his place of work and his accommodation.
He was quarantined after being identified as a close contact of the cases in the cluster, and tested negative for the virus on April 2.
However, another swab done on Monday came back positive for the virus.
He was then taken to hospital in an ambulance.
"We have classified this case as locally transmitted as he had repeatedly tested negative for Covid-19 before April 12," said MOH.
"He was likely to have been infected through his exposure to Case 61461 and Case 61470 during the course of their work," added the ministry.
This is the first time there has been an active local cluster since March 25.
MOH reported 26 imported cases on Wednesday. With 18 cases discharged that day, 60,377 patients have fully recovered from the disease.
A total of 61 patients remain in hospital, including two in the intensive care unit, while 236 are recuperating in community facilities.
Singapore has had 30 deaths from Covid-19 complications, while 15 who tested positive have died of other causes.
Globally, the virus outbreak, which began in December 2019, has infected more than 138 million people. Over 2.97 million people have died.
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