SINGAPORE, 29 March 2020:
Singapore’s Ministry of Health (MoH) has confirmed an additional 70 cases of Covid-19 infection, with four cases involving Malaysians who are Singapore Work Pass holders.
This is the highest number of positive cases the republic have recorded so far within 24 hours, bringing the tally to 802.
In a statement yesterday, MoH said of the 70 positive cases, 41 are imported while 29 are local cases who have no recent travel history abroad.
The 41 imported cases had travel history to Europe, North America, Asean countries and other parts of Asia, it said.
Two of the imported cases involved Malaysian men, aged 28 and 47, with both currently warded at Ng Teng Fong General Hospital and the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) respectively.
Meanwhile, two other Malaysians – a 36-year old female and a 26-year old man – are part of the 29 new local cases.
The female patient is currently unlinked to any previous cases and warded at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital while the man is linked to the cluster of SingPost Centre in Eunos Road and warded at NCID.
According to the ministry, 15 more cases of Covid-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities today, and in all, 198 have fully recovered.
Of the 420 confirmed cases who are still in hospital, most are stable or improving while 19 are in critical condition in the intensive care unit, it said.
In BANGKOK, Thailand reported 109 new Covid-19 cases and one death bringing the total to 1,245 cases and six deaths.
Senior expert in Preventive Medicine of Disease Control Department, Dr Anupong Sujariyakul said the latest death is a 55-year-old Thai woman who had diabetes, and sought treatment on March 23.
Of the 109 new cases reported, he said 39 cases have been linked to earlier infections, 17 cases including two medical personnel, eight had travelled abroad and worked in crowded places and seven had close contact with foreigners.
He added that 53 new cases are from unknown clusters and the authorities are investigating the source of infections.
“Of the 1,245 cases, 534 were reported in Bangkok, 144 cases at five provinces near Bangkok (Samut Prakarn, Samut Sakhon, Nakhon Pathom, Nonthaburi and Pathumthani), 79 cases in Southern Thailand (Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and Songkhla) and 488 cases in other provinces.
“To date, 100 patients have been discharged from hospitals while 1,139 are still being treated, including 17 in serious condition,” he said at a Covid-19 daily press conference.
Anupong added three major clusters of Covid-19 in Thailand are entertainment outlets, boxing matches and mass religious gathering in Malaysia.
Following sharp increase of Covid-19 cases in Thailand’s violence-wracked Deep South, provincial governors in Narathiwat, Yala, and Pattani issued strict orders including prohibiting the people to enter and leaving provinces in an effort to contain the spread of Covid-19.
On Friday, a 50-year-old man in Narathiwat province who attended the mass religious gathering in Kuala Lumpur, last month, died.
Meanwhile, the spokesman of the government’s Centre for Covid-19 Situation Administration (CCSA) Thaweesilp Wissanuyothin urged the people to follow all measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 pandemic.
“Please stay home and observe social distancing. We must meet at least 90 per cent of these measures to slow the spread of Covid-19.”
Meanwhile, a medical expert predicted Covid-19 cases in Thailand could hit 2,000 in the next two weeks or earlier as Bangkokians exodus the city following closure of major public venues including shopping malls, entertainment outlets and sports venues.
Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, Dr Prasit Watanapa said despite taking all necessary measures including wearing masks and using hand sanitiser, they are still at risk of spreading and being infected by the deadly virus.
By that time, he said,Thailand may not have enough medical personnel to treat the influx of patients.
“Currently, the ratio of doctor in Bangkok is one doctor for every 800 patients. In other provinces, especially the Northeast of Thailand, one doctor for up to 3,000 patients. Subsequently, death rates along with the number of patients could rise significantly,” he told the Bangkok Post.
Thailand declared state of emergency starting midnight March 26 to April 30 to curb the Covid-19 pandemic in the kingdom.
In Indonesia, 15 new Covid-19 deaths have been reported over the past 24 hours in Indonesia, raising the total number of deaths in the country to 102.
Achmad Yurianto, the government’s spokesman for all Covid-19 matters, said 11 of the 15 deaths occurred in Jakarta.
“From noon yesterday to noon today, 109 new cases were recorded, bringing the total number of positive cases to 1,155.”
Jakarta has recorded the highest number of deaths at 62, followed by West Java with 17. The other deaths have been recorded in Central Java, Banten, East Java, Bali, Yogyakarta, Riau Islands, South Sumatra, North Sumatra and South Sulawesi.
The first positive case was detected in the country on March 2, while the first death occurred on March 11.
– Bernama