121 COVID-19 Cases Today (28 Aug); 113 Are Locally Transmitted Cases With 25 Linked to the Bugis Junction Cluster

The Bugis Junction cluster is growing a lot faster that we’ve expected.

As of 12pm today (28 Aug), the Ministry of Health (MOH) has preliminarily confirmed 121 new cases of COVID-19 infection.

113 of them are locally transmitted cases, with 29 of them unlinked.

25 are linked to the Bugis Junction Cluster.

Based on yesterday’s number, the number of new cases in the community has increased from 281 cases in the week before to 484 cases in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also increased from 81 cases in the week before to 133 cases in the past week.

The 7-day moving average number of all linked community cases and all unlinked community cases are 50.1 and 19.0 respectively.

34 Bus Captains from TPY & Punggol Bus Interchanges Tested Positive for COVID-19

Lest you’re not aware, not one, not two, but 34 bus captains have tested positive for the coronavirus recently. What’s more, all but one have been fully vaccinated.

According to the Land Transport Authority (LTA), all these captains are part of the clusters linked to staff members at the Toa Payoh and Punggol bus interchanges.

25 work at the Toa Payoh interchange, while 9 work at the Punggol bus interchange.

Fortunately, most are either asymptomatic or experience mild symptoms.

The two clusters prove how important surveillance testing can be during a pandemic, as most of the cases were detected through proactive antigen rapid tests.

The surveillance tests were carried out by the two transport operators at the bus interchanges – Go Ahead Singapore at Punggol and SBS Transit at Toa Payoh.

As with any cluster, the Ministry of Health (MOH) will carry out surveillance testing for other bus conductors and staff members who were at the affected interchanges.

To prevent the virus from potentially spreading further, both operators will step up their cleaning and disinfection regimes.

Staff members will now also have to take smoke breaks and eat alone, as more precautions will be taken for mask-off activities.

Gathering in groups is also not permitted.

369 Cases in Hospitals; 8,647,565 COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Administered

369 cases are currently warded in hospital. There are currently 13 cases of serious illness requiring oxygen supplementation, and 6 in critical condition in the ICU.

Of those who have fallen very ill, 15 are seniors above 60 years, of whom 11 are completely unvaccinated or partially vaccinated.

As of yesterday, there are currently 66 clusters, ranging between 3 and 1,155 infections.

As of 26 August 2021, we have administered a total of 8,647,565 doses of COVID-19 vaccines under the national vaccination programme (Pfizer-BioNTech Comirnaty and Moderna), covering 4,494,681 individuals, with 4,278,869 individuals having completed the full vaccination regimen.

In addition, 163,009 doses of other vaccines recognised in the World Health Organization’s Emergency Use Listing (WHO EUL) have been administered as of 26 August 2021, covering 85,390 individuals.

In total, 79% of our population has completed their full regimen/ received two doses of COVID-19 vaccines, and 83% has received at least one dose.

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