Of 170 new COVID cases in S'pore, 92 linked to Jurong Fishery Port and KTVs

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) on Thursday (22 July) confirmed 170 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore, taking the country's total case count to 63,791.

There are 162 new cases of locally transmitted infections, including three dormitory residents.

Of the 110 cases that are linked, 87 have been added to the Jurong Fishery Port cluster and five belong to the KTV cluster. This brings the two largest clusters ever recorded in Singapore's community since the start of the pandemic to 560 and 221 cases, respectively.

Fifty-two cases are currently unlinked. Among the cases are six seniors above 70 years who are unvaccinated, and are at risk of serious illness.

The remaining eight cases are imported, of whom five were detected upon their arrival here while three developed COVID-19 during their stay-home notice or isolation period here.

Singapore currently has 28 active COVID-19 clusters. Two of them were announced on Wednesday, including one linked to Marina Bay Sands Casino which currently has 15 cases. Five new infections were added to the cluster on Thursday.

It is not the first time a cluster has been identified at the casino – previously, one had formed amongst its dealers and their close contacts. It is closed to all visitors from Thursday to 5 August.

Six new cases were also added to the "Case 64697" cluster, bringing the total infections linked to it to 54, while one case was added to the "Case 64735" cluster, bringing the total to five.

Yahoo News Singapore understands the "Case 64697" cluster is linked to residents at Block 639 Rowell Road of whom two had attended lessons at ComfortDelGro’s Ubi driving school and later tested positive for the virus. Other cases in the cluster include staff members at the school – a canteen worker and a driving instructor.

Separately, the MOH announced the closure of the Boon Lay Place Food Village following the detection of seven COVID-19 cases among those who work in or visited its premise at 221B Boon Lay Place. It is among 45 markets and food centres linked to the Jurong Fishery Port cluster.

The Boon Lay Place Food Village will be closed from Friday to 6 August to break the chain of transmission and enable deep cleaning of the premises, the ministry said. Free COVID-19 testing will be extended to those who have visited its premises as well as Chong Pang Market & Food Centre between 8 July and Thursday.

The MOH also noted that the number of new cases in the community has increased from 127 in the week before to 883 in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also increased from 16 in the week before to 105 in the past week.

It added that the seven-day moving average number of all linked community cases and all unlinked community cases are 111.4 and 14.7 respectively.

7 require oxygen supplementation; 1 in ICU

A total of 62,576 cases in Singapore, or over 99 per cent of the total tally, have fully recovered from their infection and have been discharged from the hospital.

As of Thursday, 415 cases are currently warded, most of whom are well and under observation.

There are currently seven cases of serious illness requiring oxygen supplementation and one in critical condition in the intensive care unit (ICU), none of whom are fully vaccinated. All of them are also aged above 60 years old.

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.

Over the last 28 days, seven local cases required oxygen supplementation, were admitted to the ICU, or died. Of them, six are unvaccinated, one is partially vaccinated and none are fully vaccinated.

As of Wednesday, 6.91 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered under the national vaccination programme. Some 4.18 million have received at least one dose of the vaccine.

Of some 2.85 million who have completed the full vaccination regimen, 120,216 are individuals who have recovered from COVID-19 and have received at least one dose while the remaining are those who have received two doses.

The MOH guidelines state that recovered individuals – who are likely to have a strong immune response against COVID-19 within the first six months after their infection – are recommended to receive a single dose of vaccine to further boost their immunity against the disease.

Those who have received the Sinovac's CoronaVac vaccine locally are not included in Singapore's national vaccination numbers. As of Wednesday, 74,052 doses of the China-made vaccine have been administered to 64,982 individuals.

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