Bus Interchange Clusters & CGH Cluster Continue to Grow; S’pore Now Has 55 Active Clusters

On 4 Sep, the Ministry of Health (MOH) reported the highest number of COVID-19 community cases since the pandemic began.

We thought it couldn’t get any worse, but even more cases were reported the next day. 

Fortunately, yesterday’s (5 Sep) case count was lower. But that’s about the only good news we got.

Here are the details:

186 Locally Transmitted Cases; Nearly Half Unlinked

186 locally transmitted cases were reported yesterday, comprising 175 in the community and 11 in migrant workers’ dormitories.

90 of these cases had no established links to previous cases, making up nearly half of our total case count yesterday.

The worrying thing isn’t just the rise in overall cases, but more so the spike in unlinked cases.

The number of unlinked community cases has shot up from 133 in the week before to 500 in the past week.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has increased from 634 in the week before to 1,233 in the past week.

In addition, five imported cases were reported, four of whom were detected upon arrival, while the other developed the disease during their quarantine.

Bus Interchange Clusters & CGH Cluster Continue to Grow

The good news is that no new clusters were identified. The bad news is that 15 of our existing clusters grew, including seven linked to staff working at bus interchanges.

They are:

• Tampines Bus Interchange staff – two new cases, 35 in total
• Boon Lay Bus Interchange staff – nine new cases, 113 in total
• Clementi Bus Interchange staff – three new cases, 39 in total
• Punggol Bus Interchange staff – one new case, 37 in total
• Sengkang Bus Interchange staff – one new case, 27 in total
• Bishan Bus Interchange staff – two new cases, 32 in total
• Jurong East Bus Interchange staff – one new case, 36 in total

Our biggest bus interchange cluster remains the one linked to the staff at the Toa Payoh bus interchange; with 13 new cases, it now has 150 infections in total.

The Bugis Junction cluster also had ten new infections, bringing its total to 276 cases.

Meanwhile, six new cases were added to the Changi General Hospital cluster, which now has 46 cases.

With the closure of seven clusters, we now have 55 active clusters.

653 Cases in Hospitals; 5 in ICU

At the moment, there are 653 COVID-19 cases in hospital, most of whom are well and under observation.

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

Of these 29 cases, 22 are patients above the age of 60. 11 of them are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated.

Currently, 81% of our population has been fully vaccinated. 83% have received at least one dose.

Stricter Pre-Departure Requirements For Some Travellers

From 11:59 pm this Thursday (9 Sep), there will be stricter pre-departure requirements for more travellers entering or transiting through Singapore.

Travellers from Category II, III, and IV countries or regions will need to produce a negative pre-departure COVID-19 PCR test result taken within 48 hours before departure to Singapore.

These are the categories:

• Category I: Hong Kong, Macao, Mainland China and Taiwan
• Category II: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Germany, New Zealand and the Republic of Korea
• Category III: Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Sweden and Switzerland
• Category IV: All other countries and regions

Previously, the test had to be taken 72 hours before departure.

These travellers, depending on where they’re arriving from, will also be subject to the usual on-arrival PCR test, as well as stay-home requirements.

MOH explained that these stricter measures will reduce the risk of importing the virus from abroad.

Learn the difference between the COVID-19 tests here:

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Featured Image: Dr David Sing/shutterstock.com