Covid-19: 450 new locally transmitted cases in Singapore; 11 large clusters under close monitoring

SINGAPORE — There were 450 locally transmitted cases of Covid-19 confirmed on Thursday (Sept 9) and 108 of them are seniors over the age of 60.

Including seven imported cases, there were a total of 457 new infections, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in a statement.

This is the highest number of daily cases since Aug 5 last year, when 908 were recorded.

MOH said that the three imported cases were detected on arrival in Singapore and the other four developed the disease during their stay-home notice or isolation.

Singapore has recorded a total of 70,039 coronavirus cases since the start of the pandemic last year.

CLUSTERS UNDER CLOSE MONITORING

MOH said that it is closely monitoring 11 large clusters, compared to nine the day before.

These clusters have already been ring-fenced through contact tracing, testing and isolation, it added.

There are two new “emerging large clusters”, MOH added.

One is Hu Lee Impex, an import-export company, which has 22 cases after nine more were linked to the cluster.

The ministry said that the cluster is primarily a workplace one, with “no evidence of spread beyond workplace and household contacts of cases”.

Another cluster is Sembcorp Marine Tuas Boulevard Yard, which has 32 cases after 14 more were added.

Most of the cases linked to the shipyard are residents of a workers dormitory at 38 Kian Teck Drive.

Five of the bus interchanges at Boon Lay, Jurong East, Punggol, Tampines and Toa Payoh have a combined total of 471 cases after 16 new cases were detected.

The other clusters include:

• Bugis Junction with 305 cases

• Changi General Hospital with 61 cases

• North Coast Lodge workers dormitory with 200 cases

• A construction site at 30 Sunview Way near Boon Lay with 37 cases

SERIOUSLY ILL

There are 664 Covid-19 patients who are hospitalised as of Thursday.

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 26, up from 23 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, 28 are seniors aged above 60.

Over the last 28 days, the percentage of unvaccinated who became severely ill or died is 5.2 per cent, while that for the fully vaccinated is 0.8 per cent, MOH said.

The latest death reported on Thursday was a 62-year-old Singaporean man who died on Monday.

VACCINATIONS

As of Sept 8, 81 per cent of the population had completed their full regimen or received two doses of Covid-19 vaccines, and 83 per cent had received at least one dose.

A total of 8,823,534 doses of Covid-19 vaccines under the national vaccination programme, which include the Pfizer-BioNTech or Comirnaty and Moderna vaccines, have been administered, covering 4,544,155 individuals.

A total of 4,396,578 individuals have completed the full vaccination regimen.

For other vaccines recognised in the World Health Organization’s Emergency Use Listing such as Sinovac, 175,027 doses had been administered as of Sept 8, covering 86,379 individuals.