Covid-19: 118 new locally transmitted cases in Singapore, including 74 linked to 3 clusters

SINGAPORE — There were 118 new locally transmitted cases of Covid-19 reported on Wednesday (Aug 25), including 29 that were not linked to earlier infections.

This is the highest tally for locally transmitted cases since July 30, when 131 such infections were reported.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) said in its nightly update of the coronavirus situation that of the 118 cases, 26 have been traced to North Coast Lodge, a migrant worker dormitory in Woodlands. The cluster now has 112 cases.

The other growing cluster at Bugis Junction mall had 38 new cases and at the Selarang Halfway House, a rehabilitative facility for former prison inmates, there were 10 new cases.

No new clusters were reported and two others have been closed.

There are now 68 active clusters, each having between three and 1,155 cases.

Among the new locally transmitted cases, 63 were linked to confirmed cases. Of these, 19 had already been quarantined and another 44 were detected through surveillance testing.

Among the cases are two seniors above the age of 70 who are not vaccinated or partially vaccinated, and are at risk of serious illness.

There were also two imported cases confirmed for the day.

One of the imported cases was detected on arrival and the other developed the illness while in isolation.

This brought the total number of new cases for Wednesday to 120.

Singapore has recorded 66,812 coronavirus infections since the start of the pandemic last year.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has gone up from 316 in the week before to 335 in the past week.

The number of cases with no known links in the community has also risen from 81 in the week before to 131 in the past week.

The seven-day moving average number of all linked community cases and all unlinked community cases are 29.1 and 18.7 respectively.

HOSPITALISED PATIENTS

There are 350 patients who are hospitalised.

Data from MOH showed that the number of patients who are under intensive care has remained constant at seven since Aug 20.

There are 19 patients who are seriously ill and need oxygen support to help them breathe, a slight dip from the 20 reported the day before.

Among these 19 patients and the seven under intensive care, four are fully vaccinated.

Of those who have fallen very ill, 21 are patients aged above 60, of whom 17 are not vaccinated or partially vaccinated.

Over the last 28 days, the percentage of unvaccinated who became severely ill or died is 9.2 per cent, while that for the fully vaccinated is 1.5 per cent.

Two deaths were reported for the day. 

VACCINATIONS

As of Aug 24, 78 per cent of the population had completed their full regimen or received two doses of Covid-19 vaccines, and 82 per cent had received at least one dose.

For other vaccines recognised in the World Health Organization’s Emergency Use Listing such as Sinovac, 161,563 doses had been administered as of Aug 24, covering 85,242 individuals.