Singapore reports 349 new COVID-19 cases, two imported

SINGAPORE —The Ministry of Health (MOH) on Wednesday (8 September) confirmed 349 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore, taking the country's total case count to 69,582.

Of them, 347 are locally transmitted. Amongst the local cases are 84 seniors who are above 60 years. In addition, three patients are above the age of 70 and unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, and are at risk of serious illness, said the MOH.

Two cases are imported who have already been placed on StayHome Notice (SHN) or isolated upon arrival in Singapore. Of these, one was detected upon arrival in Singapore, while one developed the illness during SHN or isolation.

A 93-year-old Singaporean woman died of COVID-19 infection on Wednesday, the 56th such fatality in the pandemic.

MOH also announced that it is revamping the format of its daily report on Singapore's COVID-19 situation. Among the changes, it will stop providing information on the number of linked and unlinked cases as this is “no longer as relevant as before” given the current strategy of living with COVID-19 in Singapore.

It will also no longer present a detailed report on the vaccination progress every day and will issue a report once a day from Thursday instead of twice previously.

There are currently no new emerging large clusters, MOH said. It listed nine large clusters with new cases. Among them are the nine new cases at the 30 Sunview Way construction site cluster (total 35), eight new cases at the Boon Lay Bus Interchange staff cluster (total 145), and seven new cases at the Toa Payoh Bus Interchange staff cluster (total 183).

"We are closely monitoring the clusters...which have already been ringfenced through tracing, testing and isolation," MOH said.

As of Wednesday, 664 COVID-19 cases are currently warded in hospital. There are currently 23 cases of serious illness requiring oxygen supplementation, and six in critical condition in the intensive care unit. Of those who have fallen very ill, 23 are seniors above 60 years.

Over the last 28 days, the percentage of unvaccinated who became severely ill or died is 6.1 per cent, while that for the fully vaccinated is 0.7 per cent.

As of Tuesday, about 8.81 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered under the national vaccination programme. Some 4.54 million have received at least one dose of the vaccine, with some 4.39 million having completed the full vaccination regimen.

Separately, 174,435 doses of other vaccines recognised in the World Health Organization’s Emergency Use Listing (WHO EUL) have been administered as of Tuesday, covering 86,319 individuals.

As of Tuesday, 81 per cent of the population has completed their full regimen or received two doses of COVID-19 vaccines, and 83 per cent has received at least one dose.

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