SINGAPORE: Singapore reported 132 new cases of COVID-19 as of noon on Saturday (Aug 8), including one in the community and six imported infections.
This brings the total number of cases in the country to 54,929.
AdvertisementAdvertisementThe community infection is a Singaporean, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in its preliminary daily update.
All the imported cases had been placed on stay-home notice upon arrival in Singapore, the ministry added.
The vast majority of the new infections are work permit holders residing in foreign worker dormitories.
The ministry will provide more details later in the day.
AdvertisementAdvertisementOn Friday, MOH completed testing all migrant workers living in dormitories for COVID-19, except for those in “a few” standalone blocks that serve as quarantine facilities.
The workers in these facilities will be tested when their isolation ends, and the case counts are expected to remain high in the coming days before tapering down after, the ministry said.
[h=3]READ: COVID-19 testing completed for all migrant workers in dormitories, except 'a few' quarantine blocks: MOH[/h]With workers who have either been cleared or recovered from COVID-19 back on the job, construction activity will be able to resume by the end of the month as well, said Education Minister Lawrence Wong, co-chair of the COVID-19 multi-ministry task force.
He also urged contractors to put in place the required safe management measures.
[h=3]READ: COVID-19 - Most foreign workers to be able to return to work by end-August, says Lawrence Wong[/h]Workers will still be tested every two weeks after they return to work, said the minister.
“Just because we have COVID-cleared dormitories doesn't mean that we should assume these are permanently COVID-safe dormitories because we all know that the virus can flare up again.”
The Government will also continue working with employers to ensure that construction activities are carried out in a “safer manner” to minimise the chances of large clusters forming, Mr Wong added.
[h=3]BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the coronavirus outbreak and its developments[/h]Download our app or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak: https://cna.asia/telegram
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