News

Bus Interchange Clusters Continue to Grow, With 1 Having Over 100 Cases

2021-09-03 , 9:30 am

In the past few days, a worrying new trend in our daily case count has emerged – unlinked cases surpassing linked infections.

In fact, yesterday is the third consecutive day where there were more unlinked cases than cases with established links.

Fortunately, no new clusters or fatalities were reported. Here are the details:

113 of 187 Locally Transmitted Cases Unlinked

187 locally transmitted cases were reported yesterday, the highest number of local infections since 7 Aug, when 236 cases were recorded.

113 of these cases had no links to previous cases.

18 were detected through surveillance testing, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said.

In addition, four imported cases were reported, all of whom had already been placed on stay-home notice (SHN) or in isolation upon arrival here.

6 of 8 Bus Interchange Staff Clusters Grow; TPY Bus Interchange Cluster Surpasses 100 Infections

No new clusters were identified, but multiple active clusters continued to grow, including six of the eight clusters linked to staff at bus interchanges, namely:

Tampines Bus Interchange staff – one new case, 24 in total
Boon Lay Bus Interchange staff – five new cases, 74 in total
Jurong East Bus Interchange staff – two new cases, 30 in total
Bishan Bus Interchange staff – one new case, 29 in total
Clementi Bus Interchange staff – two new cases, 23 in total

The cluster linked to the staff working at Toa Payoh bus interchange staff is the largest of the lot. With the addition of ten new cases yesterday, it now has 104 infections in total.

In total, there are 341 cases linked to bus interchange clusters.

LTA: Bus Interchange Clusters Have Had No Major Impact on Operations So Far

Yesterday (2 Sep), the Land Transport Authority (LTA) released a statement over the recent spate of clusters linked to staff working at bus interchanges.

They noted that from July to 1 Sep, 284 frontline staff working at bus interchanges have tested positive for COVID-19. However, this amounts to less than three per cent of their frontline staff in the bus sector.

“Our public transport frontline workers were among the first groups to be offered vaccinations earlier this year. To date, over 99% have completed their first dose of the vaccine and over 95% are fully vaccinated,” LTA said.

In addition to regular testing, the authorities have enhanced safe management measures to reduce the likelihood of further transmission.

These are:

Segregating staff resting and dining areas at bus interchanges
Single seating at dining areas
Doubling the frequency of cleaning of high touch points at staff areas to at least once every hour
Accelerating ongoing installation of HEPA air purifiers at enclosed working areas
Setting up physical separators at designated smoking areas

LTA maintained that there has been no major impact on bus operations so far.

Infections Rise in Three Dorm Clusters

The cluster at the Institute of Mental Health grew as well; with one new case, it now has 15 infections in total.

Eight more cases were added to the Bugis Junction cluster, bringing its total to 246.

There were also three dorm clusters where infections rose, namely:

North Coast Lodge – one new case, 175 in total
119 Neythal Road dormitory – three new cases, 18 in total
Homestay Lodge – one new case, 15 in total

528 Cases in Hospitals; 5 in ICU

At the moment, there are 528 COVID-19 cases in hospitals, of whom most and well and under observation.

27 severe cases require oxygen supplementation, and five are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

Of these 32 cases, 22 are patients above the age of 60. 12 of them were either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated.

The percentage of unvaccinated cases who became severely ill or died over the last 28 days was 8.2%, compared to 1.1% for those fully vaccinated.

MOH stressed once again how vaccinations can prevent serious disease, noting that almost all fully vaccinated individuals do not fall seriously ill when infected, unless if they had underlying medical conditions that made them more susceptible.

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