5 new community cases in Singapore; new COVID-19 cluster linked to 76-year-old woman
SINGAPORE: A new COVID-19 cluster was reported in Singapore on Wednesday (Jun 30), linked to a 76-year-old woman who tested positive when she visited Singapore General Hospital for an unrelated medical condition.
As of Wednesday, the cluster had a total of three cases, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) in its daily update.
The retired Singaporean woman, referred to in the MOH report on Jun 26 as case 64478, was asymptomatic.
She was detected when she sought medical treatment at Singapore General Hospital for an unrelated condition on Jun 25. Her test result came back positive the next day, with her serology test result still pending.
An 81-year-old Singaporean man, also a retiree, was reported on Jun 27 as a COVID-19 case and her household contact.
Details of the other case in the cluster were not provided.
Two COVID-19 clusters linked to cases 63743 and 63887 have been closed as no more cases were linked to them in the past two incubation periods or 28 days.
There are now 33 active clusters with between three and 91 infections.
The largest among these is 115 Bukit Merah View & Food Centre.
NEW CASES
MOH also reported a total of five new locally transmitted COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, all linked to previous cases.
The five cases had already been placed in quarantine, said the ministry.
There were also 11 imported cases who were all placed on stay-home notice or isolated upon arrival in Singapore. Six were detected upon arrival in Singapore, while the remaining five cases developed illness during stay-home notice or isolation.
In all, Singapore reported 16 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday.
CASES IN HOSPITAL
Most of the 133 cases warded in hospital as of Wednesday are well and under observation, said MOH.
There are eight cases of serious illness who require oxygen supplementation and another four cases who are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.
The current number of COVID-19 patients with serious illness has decreased from a high of 18 on Jun 25 within the last month.
READ: Singapore shortens interval between COVID-19 vaccine doses to 4 weeks
INTERVAL BETWEEN COVID-19 VACCINE DOSES SHORTENED TO 4 WEEKS
The interval between the first and second doses of the COVID-19 vaccine has been shortened to four weeks, announced MOH on Tuesday.
This is as part of efforts to ensure that more of the population will be fully vaccinated earlier, said the ministry. Previously, the minimum interval was six to eight weeks.
Permanent residents and long-term pass holders in Singapore aged 12 to 39 can also get vaccinated on Jun 30 - earlier than the previously announced Jul 2.
This is due to the steady vaccination take-up by Singapore citizens and new registrations from citizens aged 12 to 39 years old tapering off, said MOH.
As of Wednesday, Singapore has reported a total of 62,579 cases and 36 fatalities from the disease.
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