328 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases in Singapore, new cluster at madrasah along Braddell Road

SINGAPORE: A new COVID-19 cluster with eight cases at a madrasah was identified on Tuesday (Sep 7), as Singapore reported 328 new locally transmitted COVID-19 infections, including 185 not linked to previous cases.

Of the 328 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases, 300 were in the community, setting a new record for the daily number of community infections. It surpassed the previous record of 246 community infections, recorded on Sep 4, the Ministry of Health's (MOH) data showed.

The remaining 28 locally transmitted cases reported on Tuesday were in the dormitories.

Ninety-one of the new locally transmitted infections were linked to previous cases and already placed on quarantine. Another 52 linked infections were detected through surveillance testing, said MOH.

Among the new cases, four above the age of 70 are unvaccinated or partially vaccinated, and are at risk of serious illness, said MOH.

There were also four imported infections, two of whom were detected upon arrival in Singapore. The remaining two developed the illness during the stay-home notice or isolation period.

In total, Singapore reported 332 new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, the highest daily count of COVID-19 cases since Aug 5 last year.

The number of new cases in the community has increased from 771 in the week before to 1,489 in the past week, MOH said.

The number of unlinked cases has also gone up, from 184 cases in the week before to 677 in the past week.

NEW CLUSTER AT MADRASAH

MOH on Tuesday identified a new cluster at Madrasah Irsyad Zuhri Al-Islamiah along Braddell Road. Eight cases have been linked to the cluster, including six new infections reported today.

The ministry also closed the Jurong Fishery Port/Hong Lim Market & Food Centre cluster, which was the biggest active cluster in Singapore and included a total of 1,155 cases.

Twenty new cases have been linked to the cluster involving a construction site at 30 Sunview Way, bringing its total to 26.

More cases were also linked to the eight clusters involving the bus interchanges at Tampines, Boon Lay, Jurong East, Toa Payoh, Bishan, Clementi, Punggol and Sengkang. These clusters now include 537 cases in total.

There are now 53 active clusters in Singapore, ranging between 3 and 291 infections.

24 SERIOUSLY ILL, 6 IN CRITICAL CONDITION

There are 643 cases currently warded in hospital.

Twenty-four cases are seriously ill and require oxygen supplementation, and six are in critical condition in the intensive care unit.

Of those who are very ill, 22 are seniors above the age of 60, 14 of whom are completely unvaccinated or partially vaccinated.

"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.

"Over the last 28 days, the percentage of unvaccinated who became severely ill or died is 6.1 per cent, while that for the fully vaccinated is 0.8 per cent."

81 PER CENT OF POPULATION COMPLETED FULL VACCINE REGIMEN

As of Monday, more than 8.8 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered under the national vaccination programme. This covers more than 4.5 million individuals, with 4.3 million having completed the full vaccine regimen.

Another 171,961 doses of other vaccines recognised in the World Health Organization's emergency use listing have been administered, covering 86,204 individuals.

In total, 81 per cent of Singapore's population have completed their full regimen or received two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine, and 83 per cent have received at least one dose.

As of Tuesday, Singapore has reported a total of 69,233 COVID-19 cases.

ADDITIONAL COMMUNITY MEASURES

Warning of the increasing likelihood of an "exponential rise" in COVID-19 cases, MOH on Monday announced additional measures to slow transmission of the virus.

When a cluster is identified, MOH will send out health risk warnings and health risk alerts to people on top of quarantining close contacts.

Recipients of a health risk warning will be required by law to get a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test and self-isolate until they receive a negative result. They will then need to take further antigen rapid tests (ART) and another PCR test.

The fast and easy rostered routine testing regime for employees in higher-risk settings will be expanded to more sectors, including retail, delivery and transport. Testing frequency will be increased from once every two weeks to once a week.

Regular testing for employees working onsite beyond these settings will also be stepped up. Companies that are not already subject to mandatory rostered routine testing will receive ART kits for weekly testing of their staff over the next two months.

MOH also said people should limit themselves to one social gathering a day, while social gatherings and social interactions at workplaces will not be allowed from Wednesday.