Covid-19: Changi Prison Complex cluster closed; 3 locally transmitted cases among 16 new infections

• Singapore reported 16 new cases of Covid-19 on July 8, three of which were locally transmitted
• There are 22 active Covid-19 clusters after the one linked to the Changi Prison Complex was closed
• The number of cases with no known links in the community has gone up slightly from eight in the week before to nine in the past week
• Over six million doses of Covid-19 vaccines had been given to about 3.79 million people as of July 7

SINGAPORE — Singapore on Thursday (July 8) recorded three new locally transmitted cases of Covid-19, two of which have no links to past infections. The third case had been linked to past cases and was detected through surveillance, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said.

In its nightly update on the coronavirus situation here, MOH said that one more Covid-19 cluster — the one linked to the Changi Prison Complex — had been closed because no more infections had been linked to it in the past 28 days.

The cluster had 16 cases, with the first detected on May 13 involving a cook from airport ground handling and catering firm Sats who was working at a kitchen in the Changi Prison Complex.  

As of Thursday, there are 22 active clusters, with the number of cases in each ranging from three to 94.

Thirteen of the 16 new cases reported on Thursday were imported. Of the 13, 12 were detected upon arrival in Singapore and one fell ill during isolation or while serving a stay-home notice.

The total number of coronavirus infections here is now 62,668.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has gone down from 58 in the week before to 23 in the past week.

The number of cases with no known links in the community has, however, gone up slightly from eight in the week before to nine in the past week.

“The seven-day moving average number of all linked community cases and all unlinked community cases are 2.0 and 1.3 respectively,” MOH said.

Data provided by the ministry showed that there has been an upward trend in the seven-day moving average number of unlinked cases in the community over the past four days.

The seven-day moving average number of unlinked cases was 0.3 on July 4, increasing daily to reach 1.3 on July 8.

HOSPITALISED PATIENTS

There are 84 Covid-19 patients who are hospitalised.

Of these, 10 require supplemental oxygen while another two are in critical condition under intensive care. Those two patients are aged above 60 and not vaccinated.

Among the 10 who need oxygen aid, two are partially vaccinated. Six of the 10 are aged over 60, two are between the ages of 40 and 60 and the remaining two are aged between 19 and 39.

“There is continuing evidence that vaccination helps to prevent serious disease when one gets infected,” MOH said.

“Over the last 28 days, 23 local cases required oxygen supplementation, were admitted to intensive care units or have died. Twenty are unvaccinated, three are partially vaccinated and none was fully vaccinated.”

VACCINATIONS

Over six million doses of Covid-19 vaccines had been given to about 3.79 million people as of Wednesday, the ministry said.

More than 2.2 million people have received their second dose and completed the full vaccination regimen.

ALL 13 PRISON INMATES WHO HAD COVID-19 ‘ARE WELL’

In a separate statement on Thursday night, the Singapore Prison Service (SPS) said that of the 16 cases in the Changi Prison Complex cluster, 13 were inmates who were working at the same prison kitchen as the Sats cook.

All 13 were cell mates from four cells.

“The virus did not spread beyond this group of inmates. All 13 inmates have since recovered and are well,” it said.

Upon the discovery of the first case, SPS said that it isolated a total of 114 inmates who worked at the kitchen.  

Another 800 other inmates from Institution A5 where the inmates working in the prison kitchen were housed were also isolated as a precautionary measure.

These inmates underwent regular polymerase chain reaction tests to enable early detection of any transmission of the virus.

“Affected inmates served their quarantine in prison, isolated from the rest of the inmate population, while affected staff and vendors or volunteers served their quarantine order at MOH’s designated quarantine facility,” SPS said.

During this time, all face-to-face visits were replaced with phone calls and the number of electronic letters that inmates were allowed to send was increased so that they would be able to write to their family members more frequently during that period.

Rehabilitation programmes conducted by vendors and volunteers in all the prison facilities were also suspended and replaced with virtual or recorded video sessions where possible, SPS said.

“As a highly precautionary measure, all staff, inmates and volunteers or vendors from unaffected institutions across all prison clusters also underwent repeated polymerase chain reaction tests to detect any possible asymptomatic cases.

“In total, more than 11,000 inmates, staff and partners were tested.”

It added that it will “gradually and safely” resume activities in the prison institutions that had been suspended since May 13.

SPS noted that televisits for inmates have resumed since July 1 while vendor and volunteer run programmes will restart from July 5 onwards.

“The resumption of face-to-face visits will be reviewed in line with the Covid- 19 situation in the community. Family members will be kept informed of the date when face-to-face visits can resume.”