Covid-19 cases at 10 more markets linked to fishmongers, MOH to give out self-test kits to market-goers

• There were 10 more markets and food centres linked to Covid-19 cases from the Jurong Fishery Port cluster
• The fishery port cluster was second-largest with 169 cases on July 19
• The KTV cluster had 193 cases after 20 more were traced to it
• MOH will be getting people who have gone to the affected markets and food centres to collect self-test kits

SINGAPORE — Fishmongers who visited Jurong Fishery Port to collect their stock and sell at markets and food centres may have likely spread Covid-19, which contributed to the latest fast-growing cluster at the port.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Monday (July 19) in its nightly update on the coronavirus situation that it is investigating the offshoot clusters of coronavirus infections involving markets and food centres around Singapore.

More cases were detected among fishmongers working at:

• Albert Centre Market and Food Centre

• Ang Mo Kio Central Market and Food Centre

• 630 Bedok Reservoir Road Market and Food Centre

• 497 Jurong West Street 41 Market

• 505 Jurong West Street 52 Market

• Kim Keat Palm Market and Food Centre

• Mayflower Wet Market and Food Centre

• Teck Ghee Market and Food Centre

• 146 Teck Whye Avenue Market

• Tekka Centre

These added to the existing clusters detected at Hong Lim Market and Food Centre in Chinatown, Chong Boon Market and Food Centre in Ang Mo Kio and 11 other food centres reported over the weekend.

As an added layer of ring-fencing to help identify cases and prevent further spread, MOH is working with the People’s Association to distribute self-test kits to individuals who had visited selected markets and food centres in the last 14 days, including residents living in the vicinity of these markets and hawker centres.

The collection for the antigen rapid test kits, which enable people to do nasal swabs, will be on July 20 and 21 at residents’ committee centres in the vicinity of the following locations:

• Cheng San Market and Cooked Food Centre (527 Ang Mo Kio Ave 10)

• Chong Boon Market and Food Centre (453A Ang Mo Kio Ave 10)

• Geylang Serai Market and Food Centre (1 Geylang Serai)

• Haig Road Market & Food Centre (14 Haig Road)

Eligible persons are strongly encouraged to collect and perform self-testing using these kits. They may check online for the collection points at https://www.gowhere.gov.sg/art.

In Monday's tally, 106 new cases were traced to the Jurong Fishery Port cluster and 20 more were added to the KTV nightclub cluster.

The fishery port cluster, which was first confirmed last Friday, now has 169 cases and is the second-largest active cluster here. The largest is the KTV cluster with 193 cases.

MOH’s investigations have found that there is likely ongoing transmission at two more nightclubs: Dynasty Classic KTV at 1 Sophia Road and True Love at 211 Geylang Road.

In total, there were 172 new cases confirmed on Monday.

Of these, 163 were locally transmitted cases, with 17 having no known sources of infection and 44 linked to previous infections and already placed on quarantine.

The other 102 linked to previous cases were detected through surveillance testing.

Among the cases was one patient above 70 years old who is not vaccinated and is at risk of serious illness.

There were five patients with serious illness requiring oxygen support and one in critical condition under intensive care. None of these six patients were fully vaccinated.

The remaining nine new cases were imported and had been placed on stay-home notices or isolated on arrival in Singapore.

Three were detected on arrival and six developed the disease while in isolation or while serving a stay-home notice.

The total number of Covid-19 cases in Singapore is now 63,245.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has surged from 19 in the week before to 480 in the past week.

The number of community cases with no known sources of infection has also increased from eight in the week before to 45 in the past week.

The seven-day moving average number of all linked community cases and all unlinked community cases are 62.1 and 6.4 respectively.

There are now 28 active clusters, each with between three and 193 cases. 

MOH said that it has been monitoring existing clusters for any further transmission and as there have been no more cases linked to the 121 Bukit Merah View cluster for the past two incubation periods or 28 days, the cluster has been closed.

HOSPITALISED CASES AND VACCINATION RATES

There are 289 Covid-19 patients in hospital. Most are well and under observation. 

Over the last 28 days, 12 patients needed oxygen support, were put under intensive care or died. Eight were unvaccinated, four were partially vaccinated and none were fully vaccinated.

As of July 18, about 6.79 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered under the national vaccination programme, covering 4.15 million people.

Around 2.74 million people have completed the full vaccination regimen, consisting of 106,238 recovered persons who received at least one dose and 2.64 million who had their second shot.