Daily high of 1,164 coronavirus patients discharged, 752 new infections, 1 new cluster

This article is more than 12 months old

May 15, 2020 06:00 am

The number of patients discharged in a day crossed the 1,000 mark for the first time yesterday, and the number of cases in the community hit a low as the Covid-19 situation here continued to show signs of stabilising.

For the third time this week, the number discharged was higher than the number of new cases. A total of 1,164 cases were discharged compared with 752 new cases announced.

To date, 5,973 people, or around 23 per cent of the total, have recovered from the disease since the first case was reported on Jan 23.

Singapore has reported 26,098 Covid-19 cases, with most of the patients being migrant workers living in dormitories.

Twenty are in critical condition in the intensive care unit, 1,052 others are stable or improving in hospital, and 19,032 are in community facilities and have only mild symptoms or are clinically well but still test positive for Covid-19.

The new cases yesterday comprised one Singaporean and one permanent resident. The two cases mark the lowest number of cases in the community since the circuit breaker began on April 7.

The WHO is currently in the process of conducting an analysis of excess deaths during the pandemic.

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The remaining 750 new cases are migrant workers linked to dorms. There were no imported cases.

Singapore's rate of discharge has increased significantly this week.

It had been reporting double-digit discharge figures until May 6, when the figure breached the 100 mark, after which it rose to 626 on May 12, 958 on May 13, and 1,164 yesterday.

Discharge figures in the past week have all exceeded 200, and the daily average is 608.

The increase began to occur around three weeks after the surge in new patients exceeded 1,000 from April 20 to 23, said Professor Teo Yik Ying, dean of the National University of Singapore's Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health.

He said the delayed peak in discharge figures matches what health experts know about the virus, namely that most mild cases take two to four weeks to recover fully.

Yesterday, the ministry announced a new cluster at 2 Perumal Road, which is linked to 11 cases.

For Singaporeans, PRs and long-term pass holders, the daily average number of cases has fallen from eight cases two weeks ago to five in the past week.