Virus cases in foreigners rise in Singapore, Malaysia

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) - Singapore on Friday reported 768 new coronavirus cases, most of them migrant workers, local media reported.

The rising number of cases among foreign workers, who live in dormitories, prompted a panel propose a discussion on issues of migrant workers in the country, daily Straits Times reported.

“I think Singaporeans sometimes may be a little bit fickle and self-serving in how they approach a situation and we have to depart from this kind of thinking,” Bernard Menon, executive director of the Migrant Workers’ Centre, said at a webinar.

The country’s coronavirus tally rose to 21,707 -- most of them migrant workers -- after new cases were found today. 20 people have so far died due to the infection.

The city-state has conducted 175,604 tests to determine the COVID-19 cases. Over 1,700 people have recovered from the illness.

- Philippines

The Philippines on Friday said the coronavirus curve in the country was “already flattening” as the positivity rate went down to 10% from 17%, said Philippine Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire in a virtual news conference.

The island state reported 120 new cases, bringing the national tally to 10,463, a Health Ministry statement said. At least 696 people have died after 11 more people lost their battle against the COVID-19 over the past 24 hours.

The Philippines has so far conducted 136,169 tests to determine the infection.

The number of recovered patients is also increasing in the country as 116 more people were discharged from hospitals -- the highest single-day increase since the outbreak began. A total of 1,734 patients have so far recovered from the disease.

- Malaysia

Malaysia on Friday reported 68 new coronavirus cases, 57 of them are foreigners.

The country started testing foreigners last week.

Malaysia has a total of 6,535 COVID-19 cases.

Health chief Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah told a news conference that 88 more individuals had been discharged from hospitals, bringing the total number of recovered people to 4,864, which is equivalent to 77.43% of total confirmed cases, daily Malay Mail reported.

The official death toll in Malaysia currently stands at 107.

- Thailand

In Thailand, authorities reported only eight new coronavirus cases on Friday, bringing the country’s tally to 3,000. At least 55 patients have died due to the infection, according to the National News Bureau of Thailand.

- Vietnam

Vietnam is progressing in its fight against the COVID-19 as the country reported no new local cases for the 22nd consecutive day.

On Thursday, 17 passengers, who returned to the country from the United Arab Emirates, tested positive for the coronavirus, daily Vietnam News reported.

The country has reported no fatality due to the virus, the total number of coronavirus cases stood at 288.