SINGAPORE - Special testing operations for staff and tenants who work in parts of Redhill and Tiong Bahru will be conducted, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Thursday (June 17) night.
This is part of the ministry's ongoing community surveillance operations and is meant to detect and curb community transmission, said MOH.
"MOH is investigating cases of Covid-19 infection among individuals who work in or visited 78, 79, 80, 84 and 85 Redhill Lane, 86 Redhill Close, 18 Jalan Membina and Tiong Bahru Yong Tao Hu Coffeeshop (56 Eng Hoon Street).
"In order to disrupt any wider, undetected community transmission, we will conduct special testing operations for all staff and tenants who have been working at these premises, " said the ministry.
There were 17 more people added to the Bukit Merah View food centre cluster on Thursday night (June 17), most of whom work at the food centre or are their family members, said the ministry.
This brings the total number of cases in the cluster to 56. This makes it the largest open cluster to be declared since the MINDSville@Napiri cluster on June 2.
The 17 new cases in the cluster formed the bulk of the 19 linked cases that were announced on Thursday.
There is also one unlinked case and seven imported cases confirmed on Thursday, for a total of 27 new cases.
Linked cases in the cluster include a 73-year-old female Singaporean who works as a stall assistant at Tiong Bahru Yong Tao Hu (56 Eng Hoon Street). She is a family member and household contact of a cleaner who tested positive on Sunday and workplace contact of another stall assistant who tested positive for the virus on Thursday.
She was placed under quarantine on Monday, when she was tested during quarantine, developing a sore throat on Tuesday.
On the same day, her test result came back positive for Covid-19 infection. Her serology test result is pending.
She had received her first dose of Covid-19 vaccine on March 6, and the second dose on March 27.
The 27 confirmed cases as at Wednesday take Singapore's total to 62,366, said the ministry.
The 19 linked cases consist of 14 cases who have already been placed under quarantine and five that were detected through surveillance.
The sole unlinked case is a 72-year-old female Singaporean who works as the counter of McDonald's Tiong Bahru Plaza.
She is asymptomatic, and was detected on Wednesday as part of the ministry's surveillance testing for staff who work at the mall.
Seven imported cases were also reported, all of whom have already been placed on stay-home notice or isolated upon arrival in Singapore. Three are Singaporeans or permanent residents.
There were no new cases from migrant workers' dormitories.
The weekly total number of community cases is 93 in the past week, up from 40 in the previous week. The number of unlinked cases has also risen to 18 in the past week, compared with seven cases in the week before.
There are currently 41 active clusters of infection, down from 44 on Wednesday.
As at Thursday night, 151 patients remain hospitalised, including one in critical condition in the intensive care unit, while 221 are recuperating in community facilities.
Singapore has had 34 deaths from Covid-19 complications, while 15 who tested positive have died of other causes.
READ MORE: MOH's press release in full
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