92 COVID-19 Cases Today (18 Jul); 88 Are Community Cases With 23 From the KTV Cluster

I guess you now know why the daily report came so late today.

As of 12pm today (18 Jul), the Ministry of Health (MOH) has preliminarily confirmed 92 new cases of COVID-19 infection.

88 of them are community cases, of which 23 belong to the KTV cluster and 37 are linked to the Jurong Fishery Port cluster.

30 are linked to previous cases, and have already been placed on quarantine. 41 are linked to previous cases and were detected through surveillance. 17 are currently unlinked.

Amongst the cases are 4 seniors above 70 years who are unvaccinated, and are at risk of serious illness.

There are 4 imported cases, who have already been placed on Stay-Home Notice (SHN) or isolated upon arrival in Singapore. 1 was detected upon arrival in Singapore, while 3 developed the illness during SHN or isolation.

This brings the total number of cases in Singapore to 63,073.

Based on yesterday’s number, the number of new cases in the community has increased from 17 cases in the week before to 239 cases in the past week. We are likely to see rising cases in the coming days as we step up efforts to detect them to contain their spread in the community. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also increased from 8 cases in the week before to 22 cases in the past week.

The 7-day moving average number of all linked community cases and all unlinked community cases are 31.0 and 3.1 respectively.

For now, we can only hope that COVID-19 will be an endemic disease soon. Watch this video to the end to know what an endemic disease is:

12 More Markets & Food Centres Linked to the Jurong Fishery Port Cluster

As the chain of logistics goes, it is believed that stallholders at the port have unknowingly facilitated the spread of the infection to multiple fishmongers at various markets and food centres.

Besides the Hong Lim Market and Food Centre, 12 more markets and food centres have COVID-19 cases that can be linked to the port.

These 12 markets and food centres are:

  1. Chong Boon Market and Food Centre
  2. Amoy Street Food Centre
  3. Chong Pang Market and Food Centre
  4. Whampoa Wet Market
  5. Telok Blangah Crescent Block 11
  6. Taman Jurong Market
  7. Redhill Market
  8. Geylang Serai Malay Market
  9. Geylang Bahru Market
  10. 527 Ang Mo Kio Market
  11. 726 West Coast Wet Market
  12. Bukit Timah Wet Market.

Although the status of the other 11 market and food centres are still pending, the Chong Boon Market and Food Centre will be closed from 18 Jul until 1 August for deep cleaning.

The Jurong Fishery Port cluster currently has 19 cases.

To ringfence the cluster, aggressive testing of fishmongers is ongoing.

They are required under law to get tested at designated testing centres and self-isolate until they obtain a negative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) result.

They will also be required to take another PCR test at designated testing centres around the 14th day from the date of their last known exposure.

The MOH also advised all visitors to the 11 markets and food centres that are still open to avoid crowds, visit during off-peak hours, and strictly observe safe management measures.

3 New Clusters Added; 29 Active Clusters in Total

Two of which are tied to individuals, with the third being linked to a sea freight service provider, PSC Express Pte Ltd.

KTV Lounge Cluster Hits Record High of 148 Cases; More KTVs Added to the List

The MOH has added 6 more KTVs to the list of outlets that are included in the rapidly-growing KTV Lounge Cluster.

They are:

  1. Quinn KTV on 207A Syed Alwi Road
  2. Club Aura on 442 Orchard Road
  3. Club Ion on 271 Bukit Timah
  4. Icon II on 35 Selegie Road
  5. Club Lucky Thai on 5001 Beach Road
  6. M. Sakhon on 5001 Beach Road

The MOH advised that all visitors of said locations monitor their health closely, minimize social interactions, and seek immediate treatment if they feel unwell.

29 new cases were also reported for the KTV Lounge Cluster, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to a whopping 148, making it the biggest active cluster to date.

The previous holder of the said title was the 115 Bukit Merah View Market and Food Centre with its 94 cases.

Read more about yesterday’s cases here.

196 Cases in Hospitals; 6,650,677 COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Administered

196 cases are currently warded in hospital. Most are well and under observation. There are currently 5 cases of serious illness requiring oxygen supplementation, and 1 in critical condition in the intensive care unit (ICU). None amongst these 6 cases is fully vaccinated.

There are 3 new clusters. In total, there are currently 29 active clusters, ranging between 3 and 148 infections. MOH has been monitoring existing clusters for any further transmission. As there have been no more cases linked to the Case 64263 cluster for the past two incubation periods (i.e. 28 days), the cluster has now been closed.

As of 16 July 2021, we have administered a total of 6,650,677, doses of COVID-19 vaccines under the national vaccination programme. The total number of doses administered was 6,650,677, covering 4,118,334 individuals. 2,609,367 individuals have completed the full vaccination regimen, consisting of 77,024 recovered persons who received at least one dose and 2,532,343 who received their second dose.

Featured Image: CHEN WS / Shutterstock.com (Image for illustration purpose only)