10 new active Covid-19 clusters in Singapore, including Jurong West GP clinic

SINGAPORE - The Ministry of Health (MOH) has found 10 new active Covid-19 clusters, including one linked to a general practitioner's clinic in Jurong West.

This brings the total number of active clusters here to 35, the highest number in the past month, MOH said in its nightly coronavirus update on Monday (July 26).

A total of three Covid-19 cases have been linked to Apex Medical Centre (Jurong), a clinic in Jurong West Street 92. It is one of seven new clusters that have three infections each.

The remaining three new clusters have four cases each.

In all, MOH reported 129 new locally transmitted coronavirus cases, including 61 cases linked to the Jurong Fishery Port cluster.

This brings the total number of cases in the cluster to 858.

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There were also six new cases linked to the KTV lounge cluster, taking its total to 243.

Nine new infections have been linked to Samy’s Curry Restaurant in Dempsey, which now has a cluster of 22 cases. The Marina Bay Sands Casino cluster has also grown to 34 cases.

Of the 129 locally transmitted cases, 76 were linked to previous cases and had already been quarantined, while another 25 linked cases were detected through surveillance, MOH said.

The remaining 28 were new unlinked cases.

Among the new cases is a senior aged above 70 who is partially vaccinated and at risk of serious illness.

There were also six imported cases who had been placed on stay-home notice (SHN) or isolated on arrival in Singapore, MOH added.

Three of these cases were detected on arrival in Singapore, while three developed Covid-19 during SHN or isolation.

The total number of cases in Singapore stands at 64,314.

Singapore has had 37 deaths from Covid-19 complications, while 15 who tested positive have died of other causes.

More than 3.07 million people have been fully vaccinated, including 120,417 people who have recovered from the coronavirus and received at least one dose of the vaccine.

In addition, more than 83,072 doses of Sinovac vaccines have been administered to 67,970 people.

The latest figures come as the multi-ministry task force tackling the pandemic laid out plans in Parliament on Monday to review the current Covid-19 restrictions in early August, and to further ease restrictions in September, when about 80 per cent of the population are expected to have received the full two doses of the vaccine.

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The easing of measures will apply only to vaccinated individuals, and only if virus clusters here are under control and hospitalisation rates remain low, said Finance Minister Lawrence Wong, who co-chairs the task force with Health Minister Ong Ye Kung and Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong.

In his ministerial statement, Mr Ong said that the KTV lounge cluster is coming under control, with the daily number of infected people over the past few days in the single-digit range.

It was the "larger and more troublesome" cluster linked to Jurong Fishery Port situation that led to the return to phase two (heightened alert) last week, Mr Ong said, though he added that there are positive signs that the situation is stabilising.

While the cluster linked to the port is still growing, it is growing at a slower rate, he said.

Transmission of the virus is impossible to eradicate, Mr Ong said, stressing that vaccination is key.

Said Mr Wong: "I make a special plea to all who remain unvaccinated or have not registered to be vaccinated, especially our parents and grandparents: Please come forward."

This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.