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Of 10 new COVID cases in Singapore, 4 are local and linked

A health staff member dressed in personal protective equipment (PPE) prepares to get samples from residents at a temporary swab centre set up at the void deck area on the ground floor of a public housing block, after a few positive Covid-19 coronavirus cases were detected in the building, in Singapore on May 21, 2021. (Photo by Roslan RAHMAN / AFP) (Photo by ROSLAN RAHMAN/AFP via Getty Images)
A health staff member dressed in personal protective equipment (PPE) prepares to get samples from residents at a temporary swab centre on 21 May, 2021. (PHOTO: AFP via Getty Images)

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) on Thursday (1 July) confirmed 10 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore, taking the country's total case count to 62,589.

Four of them are domestic cases in the community, all of whom are linked to previous infections. Thursday marks the 67th consecutive day with local cases reported in Singapore.

The remaining six cases are imported, of whom one was detected upon their arrival here, while five developed the illness during their stay-home notice or isolation period.

Four clusters are now closed – 506 Hougang Avenue 8, linked to 13 cases; "Case 63806", linked to 10 cases; "Case 63941", linked to four cases; and "Case 63973", linked to three cases. This brings the total number of active COVID-19 clusters in Singapore to 29.

The largest active cluster in Singapore is at the 115 Bukit Merah View market. Two new community cases were added to the cluster on Thursday, bringing the total to 93 cases. The cluster was first linked to a 74-year-old Singaporean man who works at a sundry store at the market and food centre. The fully-vaccinated man was confirmed to have COVID-19 on 9 June.

The remaining two community cases were added to the 105 Henderson Crescent cluster, which now has 17 cases. It was first linked to a 67-year-old Singaporean man who is a retiree. The fully-vaccinated man was confirmed to have COVID-19 on 17 June.

The MOH noted that the number of new cases in the community has decreased from 92 in the week before to 58 in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has decreased from 18 in the week before to eight in the past week.

The ministry added that the seven-day moving average number of all linked community cases and all unlinked community cases are 7.1 and 1.1 respectively.

9 require oxygen supplementation; 3 in ICU

Over 62,000 cases in Singapore, or over 99 per cent of the total tally, have fully recovered from the infection.

Most of the 127 hospitalised cases are well and under observation. Of them, nine require oxygen supplementation, while three – all aged above 60 and unvaccinated – are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

Apart from the 36 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.

"There is continuing evidence that vaccination helps to prevent serious disease when one gets infected. Over the last 28 days, 24 local cases required oxygen supplementation, were admitted to ICU or passed away," said the MOH.

Of the 24 cases, 21 are unvaccinated, three are partially vaccinated and none are fully vaccinated.

As of Wednesday, authorities have administered around 5.49 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines under the national vaccination drive. Close to 3.38 million – or some 60 per cent of Singapore's population – have received at least one dose of the vaccine, of which some 2.11 million are fully vaccinated.

The MOH on Tuesday announced that COVID-19 multi-ministry taskforce is changing the format of the daily COVID-19 press releases, as Singapore "move to a new phase of battling the pandemic, with a strong focus on preventing the virus from spreading, vaccinating our population and starting the process to transit to a new normal".

"Besides daily numbers, we will include information on the key trends of the local situation, clusters we are monitoring, the progress of vaccination, and the number of people who suffered severe form of the disease," it added.

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