13 of 56 new COVID cases in Singapore added to Westlite Juniper Dorm cluster

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) on Tuesday (17 August) reported 56 new cases of COVID-19 in Singapore, bringing the country's total to 66,281 infections.

The ministry also announced the Republic's 45th coronavirus-related fatality, a 90-year-old Singaporean man who was fully vaccinated.

Of these, 52 are locally transmitted, including 14 unlinked infections. The ministry did not provide a breakdown of how many of them are in the community or are dormitory residents.

"Amongst the cases is one senior above 70 years who is unvaccinated, and is at risk of serious illness," the MOH said.

The remaining four cases are imported, with three detected upon their arrival in Singapore and one who developed the illness during their stay-home notice or isolation period.

Six clusters were removed from the list, bringing the total number of active COVID-19 clusters here to 93.

Tuesday's largest addition of 13 new cases was made to the cluster at Westlite Juniper Dormitory, now linked to 65 infections. One new case was added to the 43 Sungei Kadut Loop dorm cluster, announced on Monday, now linked to 14 infections.

Two new cases were each added to the clusters linked to the Sengkang Bus Interchange staff and My First Skool at 54 Chin Swee Road, which now have 19 and 36 infections, respectively.

No new cases were added to Singapore's largest cluster at the Jurong Fishery Port, linked to 1,155 cases, as well as the second-largest cluster – linked to various KTVs – which has 253 cases.

The MOH noted that the number of new cases in the community has decreased from 481 in the week before to 32 in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also decreased from 135 in the week before to 91 in the past week.

It added that the seven-day moving average number of all linked community cases and all unlinked community cases are 33.0 and 13.0 respectively.

30 require oxygen supplementation; 6 in ICU

At least 64,911 cases in Singapore, or over 99 per cent of the overall total, have fully recovered from their infection and have been discharged from the hospital.

As of Tuesday, 404 cases are currently warded, most of whom are well and under observation.

There are currently 30 cases of serious illness requiring oxygen supplementation and six in critical condition in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Of those who have fallen very ill, 31 are patients above the age of 60, of whom 25 are completely unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, said the MOH.

Apart from the 45 patients who have died from COVID-19 complications, 15 others who tested positive for the virus were determined to have died from unrelated causes, including three whose deaths were attributed to a heart attack and another four whose deaths were attributed to coronary heart disease.

Over the last 28 days, the percentage of unvaccinated who became severely ill or died is 9.6 per cent, while that for the fully vaccinated is 1.4 per cent, the ministry noted.

As of Monday, about 8.46 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered under the national vaccination programme. Some 4.44 million have received at least one dose of the vaccine, with some 4.16 million having completed the full vaccination regimen.

Separately, 151,089 doses of other vaccines recognised in the World Health Organization’s Emergency Use Listing (WHO EUL) have been administered as of Monday, covering 83,968 individuals.

This means that 76 per cent of the population have completed their full regimen, or received two doses of COVID-19 vaccines, and 82 per cent have received at least one dose.

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