13 COVID-19 Cases Today (5 Jul); 6 are Community Cases with 2 Unlinked

Yesterday (4 July), there was only 1 community case. Hopefully, we can keep up with this.

As of 12pm today (5 Jul), the Ministry of Health (MOH) has preliminarily confirmed 13 new cases of COVID-19 infection.

6 of them are community infections, with 2 unlinked. The remaining 7 are imported cases.

This brings the total number of cases in Singapore to 62,630.

Overall, the number of new cases in the community has decreased from 95 cases in the week before to 26 cases in the past week. The number of unlinked cases in the community has also decreased from 17 cases in the week before to 2 cases in the past week.

The 7-day moving average number of all linked community cases and all unlinked community cases are 3.4 and 0.3 respectively.

WHO Warns That The World is in a ‘Dangerous Period’ as Delta Variant is Detected in 98 Countries

The world is now in a “dangerous period” thanks to the emergence of the Delta variant, warned the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The WHO said that the more transmissible variant has been detected in at least 98 countries and could present further dangers as it continues to evolve and mutate.

This is especially so for countries that have not vaccinated enough residents.

The “Delta (variant) has been detected in at least 98 countries and is spreading quickly in countries with low and high vaccination coverage”, WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

“In those countries with low Covid-19 vaccination coverage, terrible scenes of hospitals overflowing are again becoming the norm. But no country is out of the woods yet.”

WHO noted that while governments around the world have warned of the Delta variant, they have also relaxed COVID-19 restrictions and reopened their borders to revive their economies.

And this may have led to an increase in the variant’s infection rate.

In the US, for instance, nearly 25% of new infections have been linked to the Delta variant, an alarming increase from 6% in early last month.

In England, the Delta strain accounts for 99% of sequenced COVID-19 tests, while the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control has warned that it could cause 90% of cases in the EU by the end of next month.

Countries in Asia are also reporting a surge in infections, forcing them to reimpose lockdowns and speed up their mass vaccination drives.

WHO Chief: Sharing of Vaccines & Public Health Measures Key

According to the WHO chief, there are two main ways to combat the current Delta outbreak.

One is to implement public health measures, such as early case detection, surveillance, testing, isolation, and clinical care.

Secondly, the world must be open to sharing treatments and vaccines, as well as protective gear, oxygen, and tests.

Some countries are doing this, but the amount is “only a trickle” and is being outpaced by variants.

“I have urged leaders across the world to work together to ensure that by this time next year, 70 per cent of all people in every country are vaccinated,” Dr Tedros said.

Simply vaccinating 10%, he said, could end the acute stage of the pandemic, which would save a significant number of lives.

Read the full article here.

103 Cases in Hospitals; 5,706,932 COVID-19 Vaccine Doses Administered

103 cases are currently warded in hospital. Most are well and under observation. There are currently 10 cases of serious illness requiring oxygen supplementation, and 2 in critical condition in the intensive care unit (ICU).

There are currently 24 active clusters, ranging between 3 and 93 infections.

As of 3 July 2021, we have administered a total of 5,706,932 doses of COVID-19 vaccines under the national vaccination programme. The total number of doses administered was 5,706,932, covering 3,550,181 individuals. 2,156,751 individuals have received their second dose and completed the full vaccination regimen.

Featured Image: kandl stock / Shutterstock.com (Image for illustration purpose only)