Covid-19: 550 new locally transmitted cases in Singapore; 2 new major clusters detected

SINGAPORE — There were 550 locally transmitted cases of Covid-19 confirmed on Saturday (Sept 11) and two new major clusters being investigated, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in a statement.

Of the locally transmitted cases, 145 — or more than 20 per cent — of them are seniors over the age of 60.

Including five imported cases, there were a total of 555 new infections. All five imported cases developed the disease during their stay-home notice or isolation.

Singapore has recorded a total of 71,167 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic last year.

CLUSTERS UNDER CLOSE MONITORING

MOH said that it is closely monitoring 14 large clusters, compared to 10 the day before.

These include two new clusters. One, with 66 cases, is at Chinatown Complex, which has been closed for three days to break any potential chain of transmission and enable deep cleaning of the premises. 

The other new cluster is at PCF Sparkletots Braddell Heights at 335 Serangoon Avenue 3, with 22 cases.

The infections were among students in the same class, with further spread to household contacts of cases, MOH said.

For the bus interchanges at Boon Lay, Clementi, Jurong East, Punggol, Tampines and Toa Payoh, 31 new cases were recorded, bringing the total for the bus interchange cluster to 606 cases.

Six new cases were added to the cluster at Hu Lee Impex, which is located on Chin Bee Avenue near Boon Lay, bringing the tally to 40. MOH said that of the 40 cases, 31 are workers of the wholesale distributor of fruits and vegetables and nine are household contacts of the cases.

Another cluster is Sembcorp Marine Tuas Boulevard Yard, which has 76 cases after 17 more were added. Most of the cases linked to the shipyard are residents of a workers' dormitory at 38 Kian Teck Drive off Upper Jurong Road.

A construction site at 30 Sunview Way near Boon Lay saw 17 new cases for the day, bringing the tally to 115. MOH said that this was a “workplace transmission” and that there is no evidence of Covid-19 spread beyond the worksite.

The cluster linked to the Bugis Junction mall now has 313 infections in total following the detection of five new cases.

The cluster at Changi General Hospital now has 67 cases in total after three new cases were added. MOH said that transmission has been limited to facility management staff members and there has been no transmission to healthcare workers and patients.

Two new cases were added to the cluster at the 119 Neythal Road workers dormitory, which now has 24 cases in total.

SERIOUSLY ILL

There are 708 Covid-19 patients who are hospitalised as of Saturday, up from the 689 the day before.

Data from MOH showed that the number of patients who are in serious condition and need oxygen support to help them breathe has risen to 35, from 25 the day before.

There are also seven patients who are in intensive care units, one more than the day before.

Of those who have fallen very ill, 33 are patients aged above 60.

Over the last 28 days, the percentage of local cases who were asymptomatic or had mild symptoms is 98.5 per cent. 

• Of the 65 cases who required oxygen aid, 35 were not fully vaccinated and 30 were fully vaccinated

• Of the six who had been under intensive care, four were not fully vaccinated and two were fully vaccinated

• Of the four who died, none were fully vaccinated

VACCINATIONS

As of Sept 10, 81 per cent of the population has completed their full regimen or received two doses of Covid-19 vaccines, and 84 per cent has received at least one dose.

A total of 8,846,497 doses of Covid-19 vaccines under the national vaccination programme, which include the Pfizer-BioNTech or Comirnaty and Moderna vaccines, have been administered, covering 4,551,854 individuals.

A total of 4,411,550 individuals have completed the full vaccination regimen.

For other vaccines recognised in the World Health Organization’s Emergency Use Listing such as Sinovac, 176,732 doses had been administered as of Sept 10, covering 86,561 individuals.