News

3 New Clusters Formed from New COVID-19 Cases; Free ART Test Kits for People Who Have Visited 2 Markets

Shawn Ambrose

2021-07-24 , 10:13 am

You remember that light at the end of the tunnel we saw about three weeks ago?

Well, someone must have left the flashlight on their phone switched on without knowing it.

We’re now in a much darker tunnel, with even our car’s headlights dimming.

130 new locally transmitted infections were reported yesterday, including 29 unlinked infections.

Here are the depressing details:

3 New Clusters Formed from New COVID-19 Cases

The last thing we need right now is new COVID-19 clusters, so naturally, the coronavirus decided to deliver three yesterday.

The first, named after Case 65342, has a total of three cases linked to it.

Another cluster, linked to Case 65360, has four cases, while the remaining cluster, Case 65484, has five infections.

Fortunately, six old clusters were closed after as there have been no new infections linked to them for the past two incubation periods or 28 days.

These are:

the ION Orchard cluster
Cases 64135 cluster
Case 64349 cluster
Case 64359 cluster
Case 64374 cluster
Case 64444 cluster

There are a total of 26 active clusters in the country, ranging between three and 665 infections.

Jurong Fishery Port/Hong Lim Market & Food Centre Cluster & KTV Cluster

Unsurprisingly, our two biggest clusters continued to grow.

78 new community cases were linked to the Jurong Fishery Port/Hong Lim Market & Food Centre cluster, bringing its total tally to 665.

The KTV lounges cluster now has 227 cases after six more infections were added to it yesterday.

Besides the community cases, three infections from abroad were confirmed. The first tested positive immediately upon arrival, while the other two developed symptoms during their quarantine or isolation period.

Free ART Test Kits for People Who Have Visited 2 Markets

Visited Admiralty Wet Market and Bukit Timah Market and Food Centre in the last 14 days?

Well, the gahmen wants to give you a free antigen rapid test (ART) self-test kit so more infections in the community can be detected.

The distribution exercise will take place today and tomorrow (24 and 25 July) at Residents’ Committee Centres near the two listed markets.

Those who are eligible for the test kits are strongly encouraged to collect and use them.

For those who don’t know, an ART test is faster and less intrusive than a Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test, making it easy for residents to test themselves if needed.

Its sensitivity and specificity are lower than that of a PCR’s, but it has still accurately detected many infections.

If you test positive on an ART test, or get an invalid result twice, you will need to follow up with a confirmatory PCR test at a Swab and Send Home (SASH) clinic.

447 Cases in Hospital

At the moment, there are 447 cases warded in hospital, most of whom are well and under observation.

11 serious cases required oxygen supplementation, while two are in critical condition in the intensive care unit (ICU).

None of these serious cases has been fully vaccinated. 11 of them are above 60, and have fallen very ill.

75% of New COVID-19 Cases Vaccinated

When Reuters reported yesterday that 75% of recent COVID-19 cases were vaccinated, some residents may have been alarmed.

But this is due to sheer probability.

Since around 75% of our population has been vaccinated with at least one dose, it’s far more likely for the coronavirus to infect a vaccinated individual than one who hasn’t been jabbed.

What’s more, of those who have been vaccinated, very few fall ill, and even fewer require hospitalisation.

In other words, the number of infections in vaccinated people has no bearing on the efficacy of vaccines.

The evidence continues to prove that vaccination does indeed help to prevent serious disease when infected with COVID-19, just as the experts said.

Learn more about vaccination and its benefits in this video: