5 new COVID-19 locally transmitted cases in Singapore; MOH announces new report format with focus on trends, vaccination updates
Commuters on the train wearing masks on May 17, 2021. (Photo: Gaya Chandramohan)
SINGAPORE: Singapore reported five new locally transmitted COVID-19 infections on Tuesday (Jun 29), all linked to previous cases. The Ministry of Health (MOH) also announced it was changing the format of its daily coronavirus update to mark "a new phase of battling the pandemic".
Four of the new cases had already been placed in quarantine and one was detected through surveillance, said MOH.
There were also five imported cases who had all been placed on stay-home notice or isolated upon arrival in Singapore.
Of these, four were detected upon arrival, while one developed illness during the stay-home notice or isolation period.
In all, Singapore reported 10 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday.
NEW PRESS RELEASE FORMAT
In a statement on Tuesday evening, MOH said that the format of the daily COVID-19 press releases was changing as Singapore moved into "a new phase of battling the pandemic, with a strong focus on preventing the virus from spreading, vaccinating our population and starting the process to transit to a new normal".
"Besides daily numbers, we will include information on the key trends of the local situation, clusters we are monitoring, progress of vaccination and the number of people who suffered a severe form of the disease," the statement added.
The new reporting format from MOH now leaves out individual case details and locations visited by cases during their infectious period.
ACTIVE CLUSTERS
The biggest cluster was the one linked to 115 Bukit Merah View Market and Food Centre, which had 91 cases. This was followed by the MINDSville@Napiri cluster with 33 cases and 27 infections in the Hong Ye Group cleaner cluster.
HOSPITAL CASES
MOH also revealed that there were 129 cases warded in hospital and that most were well and under observation. However, there were 11 cases of serious illness requiring oxygen supplementation and three in critical condition in the intensive care unit.
"There is continuing evidence that vaccination helps to prevent serious disease when one gets infected," said MOH.
Over the last 28 days, 23 local cases had required oxygen supplementation, were admitted to ICU or died, said the ministry. Of these, 20 were unvaccinated, two were partially vaccinated and one was fully vaccinated. The fully vaccinated patient had been ill before infection.
The new-format release also showed that as of Jun 28, the Government had administered a total of 5,378,041 doses of COVID-19 vaccines under the national vaccination programme. The total number of doses administered was 5,378,041, covering 3,279,411 individuals. A total of 2,098,630 individuals had received their second dose and completed the full vaccination regimen.
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TESTING OPERATIONS IN HENDERSON AREA
MOH said separately on Tuesday that all residents of 91 Henderson Road must be tested for COVID-19 after five cases were detected across three households in the block.
Voluntary testing will also be offered to visitors and people who interacted with residents of the block between Jun 9 and Jun 28.
The housing block at 91 Henderson Road is not far from 105 Henderson Crescent, which emerged as a new cluster last Friday.
All residents at 103 Henderson Crescent were also tested in swabbing operations that concluded on Tuesday.
As of Tuesday, Singapore has reported a total of 62,563 cases and 36 fatalities from the disease.
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