S'pore reports 219 new COVID cases; new cluster at Changi hospital

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) on Friday (3 September) confirmed 219 new COVID-19 cases in Singapore, taking the country's total case count to 68,210.

Of them, 216 are locally transmitted, including 109 unlinked cases. Among the cases are two patients above the age of 70 who are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, and are at risk of serious illness, the MOH said.

There are three imported cases, of whom two were detected upon their arrival in Singapore, while one developed the illness during their stay-home notice or isolation period.

One new cluster was announced on Friday, while seven have closed, bringing the total number of active COVID-19 clusters to 59. The new cluster is linked to Changi General Hospital, with a total of 14 new cases.

Friday's highest number of 12 new cases was added to the cluster linked to the Boon Lay Bus interchange staff, bringing the total to 87. Eight and seven new cases were, respectively, added to the clusters linked to the Toa Payoh bus interchange staff and Bugis Junction, which now have 115 and 254 infections.

This means that the cluster at Bugis Junction is now Singapore's second-largest cluster, superseding the one linked to various KTVs which has 253 cases.

No new cases were added to Singapore's largest cluster at the Jurong Fishery Port, linked to 1,155 infections.

The MOH noted that the number of new cases in the community has increased from 484 in the week before to 1,020 in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also increased from 126 in the week before to 401 in the past week.

It added that the seven-day moving average number of all linked community cases and all unlinked community cases are 88.4 and 57.3 respectively.

20 require oxygen supplementation; 5 in ICU

At least 66,312 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 Friday, 580 cases are currently warded, most of whom are well and under observation.

There are currently 20 cases of serious illness requiring oxygen supplementation and five in critical condition in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Of those who have fallen very ill, 19 are patients above the age of 60, of whom 11 are completely unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, said the MOH.

Apart from the 55 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 7.3 per cent, while that for the fully vaccinated is 1.1 per cent, the ministry noted.

As of Thursday, about 8.75 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered under the national vaccination programme. Some 4.52 million have received at least one dose of the vaccine, with some 4.34 million having completed the full vaccination regimen.

Separately, 169,254 doses of other vaccines recognised in the World Health Organization’s Emergency Use Listing (WHO EUL) have been administered as of Thursday, covering 85,953 individuals.

This means that 80 per cent of the population have completed their full regimen, or received two doses of COVID-19 vaccines, and 83 per cent have received at least one dose

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