New cluster with 28 cases at Ren Ci nursing home in Bukit Batok

A new cluster with 28 cases has surfaced at Ren Ci nursing home in Bukit Batok, as the Health Ministry reported 607 new Covid-19 cases yesterday.

Of the 28 cases at the home in Bukit Batok Street 52, 20 are residents and eight are staff.

All other staff and residents located on the affected levels have tested negative so far, the Health Ministry said.

The other residents and staff of the nursing home will also be tested.

In a statement yesterday, Ren Ci said three staff from the same ward had experienced acute respiratory infection symptoms on Sunday and sought medical attention immediately.

When their antigen rapid test results came back positive, the affected ward was locked down.

Surveillance swabbing using polymerase chain reaction tests was then carried out for all nursing home residents and staff from the affected zone.

All the nursing home residents and the other five staff were asymptomatic prior to testing.

Of the 607 new Covid-19 cases reported yesterday, there were 534 new community cases and 10 imported ones, the Health Ministry said in its daily update. There were also 63 cases among dormitory residents.

Twelve new cases were added to a cluster at Avery Lodge Dormitory, taking its total to 58 cases.

There were also 25 new cases added to clusters linked to staff at seven bus interchanges in Toa Payoh, Tampines, Boon Lay, Bishan, Jurong East, Clementi and Punggol.

The total number of cases at these interchanges now stands at 702.

There are currently 774 Covid-19 patients in hospital, including 57 cases in need of oxygen supplementation and eight in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

Of those who have fallen very ill, 51 are seniors above 60 years old. - THE STRAITS TIMES

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By the numbers

607

New cases

597

In community

10

Imported

58

Deaths

774

In hospital

72,294

Total cases