MOH Investigating 2 New COVID-19 Clusters in Punggol & TPY Bus Interchanges

Well, it was nice while it lasted.

After 11 straight days of having fewer than 60 new COVID-19 cases per day, with community cases declining, we seem to be back where we were at beginning of Aug, where infections were in the hundreds.

There are new clusters at bus interchanges, and several existing clusters have grown as well.

Here are the exasperating details:

112 New Locally Transmitted Cases

112 new locally transmitted COVID-19 infections were reported yesterday (26 Aug), 24 of whom are unlinked.

Four imported cases were also recorded, all of whom had already been placed on Stay-Home Notice (SHN) or isolated upon arrival in Singapore.

Most of the new cases are linked to new and existing clusters.

Three New Clusters Reported; Two Linked to Staff at Punggol & Toa Payoh Bus Interchanges 

Two of the three new clusters reported yesterday were linked to staff at Punggol and Toa Payoh bus interchanges.

The Punggol cluster has 11 cases, while the Toa Payoh one has 25.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) said the two new bus interchange clusters are separate workplace clusters.

It’s now investigating the two workplace clusters.

“All staff of both Interchanges will be tested for COVID-19, and all close contacts of the cases will be placed on quarantine,” it said.

Previously, two other clusters linked to bus interchange staff were reported; one at Bishan and the other at Sengkang.

Two new cases were added yesterday to the Bishan bus interchange staff cluster, which now has 21 cases.

The Sengkang bus interchange cluster still has 22 cases.

The other new cluster is linked to Bangkit 257 Coffee House, located at 257 Bangkit Road, which now has 3 cases.

Existing Clusters Including Bugis Junction Grow

Several existing COVID-19 clusters grew as well, including the one linked to Bugis Junction.

With 40 new infections added to it, the cluster now has 104 cases.

Meanwhile, four cases were added to the cluster at Selarang Halfway House, and 13 more were linked to the North Coast Lodge cluster.

The Selarang Halfway House cluster now has 23 infections, while the dorm cluster has 125 cases.

343 in Hospitals; 7 in ICU

At the moment, 343 COVID-19 cases are in hospitals, most of whom are well and under observation.

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

Of the 24 cases, 20 were patients above the age of 60; only four of them were fully vaccinated.

Vaccination Progress: 79%

Our vaccination progress has finally been bumped up to 79% from 78% after several days.

This means that nearly 80% of our population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. 83% have received at least one dose.

This includes 85,325 recipients of other vaccines recognised in the World Health Organization’s Emergency Use Listing.

“There is continuing evidence that almost all fully-vaccinated individuals do not suffer serious disease when infected, unless if they had underlying medical conditions that made them more susceptible,” MOH said.

Understand the importance of vaccination here:

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Featured Image: Kaie Lee/shutterstock.com