This brings the total number of COVID-19 cases in the country to 39,850.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) added three places to its list of venues visited by COVID-19 cases during the infectious period: A POSB branch at Kaki Bukit Recreation Centre, HarbourFront Centre and Waterway Point.
A separate entry for Mustafa Centre has been added, with the time of the visit indicated as 7.50pm to 8.35pm on Jun 9.
MOH said it has already notified those identified as close contacts of these confirmed cases. It also advised the public that there is no need to avoid these places.
Of the cases in the community, seven are Singaporeans, one is a permanent resident, two are work pass holders and eight are work permit holders.
Eleven of the 18 cases were picked up as a result of proactive surveillance and screening, with six already having been on quarantine.
Among the eight Singaporeans and permanent residents, six were tested as part of MOH’s proactive surveillance of persons who work at dormitories. Of these, four are asymptomatic.
One case, case 39,732, is a 40-year-old male Singapore permanent resident, who had been identified as a close contact of three previous cases and was already on quarantine.
He was asymptomatic and was swabbed during quarantine to verify his status.
Epidemiological investigations are ongoing for the remaining case, a 22-year-old Singaporean woman.
CASES AMONG WORK PASS AND WORK PERMIT HOLDERS
Three of the 10 cases who are work pass or work permit holders were detected due to proactive surveillance of persons who work at dormitories, despite being asymptomatic.Two of the cases, an Indian national and a Vietnamese national, are linked to the Cassia @ Penjuru cluster.
Two were swabbed as part of efforts to screen workers in essential services while five other cases were close contacts of previously confirmed cases.
These five cases were already being isolated at government quarantine facilities.
MOH said that based on preliminary investigations, an additional five cases were picked up from its active surveillance and screening of workers in essential services and persons working at dormitories.
Epidemiological investigations are ongoing for the other eight cases.
Of the new 463 cases reported on Friday, 445 are work permit holders living in foreign worker dormitories. Cases continue to be picked up among work permit holders living in dormitories, including factory-converted dormitories, due to extensive testing.
MOH also conducted serological tests to determine if some of the cases are current or past infections.
Cases whose serological tests are positive are likely to have had a past infection and could be shedding small fragments of the virus picked up by the polymerase chain reaction test, which are no longer transmissible and infectious to others.
The serological results of four cases came back positive, which indicate possible past infections.
Results are pending for the rest.
INCREASE IN COMMUNITY CASES
Overall the number of new cases in the community increased, from an average of six cases per day in the week before to an average of nine per day in the past week.
The number of unlinked cases in the community also increased, from an average of one case per day in the week before to an average of four per day in the past week.
“This is partly due to our active surveillance and screening of targeted groups, which have picked up more cases in the past week.
“We will continue to closely monitor these numbers, as well as the cases detected through our surveillance programme,” MOH said.
MOH said 754 more cases of COVID-19 infection have been discharged from hospitals or community isolation facilities.
In all, 28,040 have fully recovered from the infection and have been discharged from hospitals or community care facilities.
Currently, there are 239 confirmed cases who are still in hospital.
Most are stable or improving, and two are in critical condition in the intensive care unit. 11,546 with mild symptoms or are clinically well but still test positive for the virus are isolated and cared for at community facilities.
Three clusters were found on Friday: A dormitory at 55 Genting Lane, a Stirling Residences construction site and another dormitory at 21 Tuas View Loop.
MOH on Thursday said a man who died earlier this week from heart disease had COVID-19.
The man is the eighth person who had COVID-19 and died but was not added to the official toll because the death was not caused by the coronavirus.
In all, seven deaths have been attributed to heart- or blood-related issues. The eighth, a migrant worker with COVID-19, died from multiple injuries after he was found at a staircase landing in Khoo Teck Puat Hospital.
@ CNA